•  SHAKESPEARE 
STUDY  PROGRAMS 

THE  -TRAGEDIES- 

CHARLOTTE  PORTER  &  HELEN  A.  CLARKE 


Authors  of  "The  Comedies" 

Editors  of  the  "Pembroke  Shakespeare" 

the  "First  Folio  Shakespeare" 

Poet  Lore,  etc. 


BOSTON:  RICHARD  G.  BADGER 

TORONTO:  THE  COPP  CLARK  CO.,  LIMITED 


Copyright,  1914,  by  Richard  G.  Badger 
All  Rights  Reserved 


THE  GORHAM  PRESS,  BOSTON,  U.  S.  A. 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

HA 

The  Shakespeare  Study  Programs  appeared  originally 
in  Poet  Lore.  They  have  met  with  marked  favor,  and 
have  been  reprinted  as  the  back  numbers  went  out  of 
print.  The  steady  demand  for  these  programs  prompts 
the  present  issue  in  book-form.  Several  new  programs 
have  been  added,  and  those  reprinted  have  been  revised. 
The  Macbeth  Program  is  reprinted  by  permission  of  The 
American  Book  Co.  from  "Shakespeare  Studies:  Mac- 
beth," by  the  present  authors. 

The  references  in  this  volume  are  to  the  "First  Folio 
Edition"  of  Shakespeare,  edited  by  Charlotte  Porter. 


385701 


"Criticism  is  the  endeavor  to  find,  to  know,  to  love, 
to  recommend  not  only  the  best,  but  all  the  good  that 
has  been  known  and  thought  and  written  in  the  world. 
.  .  .  It  shows  how  to  grasp  and  how  to  enjoy;  .  .  . 
it  helps  the  ear  to  listen  when  the  horns  of  England  blow." 

— GEORGE  SAINTSBURY,  "History  of  Criticism." 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Tragedie  of  Antonie  and   Cleopatra 9 

The  Tragedie  of  Coriolanus    21 

The  Tragedie  of  Cymbeline    33 

The  Tragedie  of  Hamlet    44 

The  Tragedie  of  Julius  Caesar    65 

The  Tragedie  of  King  Lear 74 

The  Tragedie  of  Macbeth    {. 

The  Tragedie  of  Othello    132 

The  Tragedie  of  Romeo  and  Juliet 


SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  ANTONIE  AND 
CLEOPATRA 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  I 

Topic: — For  Paper,  Classwork,  or  Private  Study. — 
Fulvia  versus  Cleopatra. 

Hints : — Tell  the  Story  of  Act  I.  showing  how  Fulvia's 
efforts  against  Cleopatra's  hold  on  Anthony  originate  the 
incidents  presented.  Notice  how  often  Cleopatra  speaks 
of  Fulvia;  also,  how  Fulvia's  "garboils,"  as  Anthony  calls 
the  wars  stirred  up  by  her,  and  then  her  death,  constitute 
the  starting-point  of  the  dramatic  action.  Anthony  going 
to  Rome,  and  his  marriage  there  with  Octavia  are  the 
events  that  flow  out  of  this  and  occasion  the  closer  con- 
nection with  Cassar,  at  first,  and  with  Cleopatra,  later. 
She  becomes  more  intent  on  securing  Anthony  because  of 
the  threatened  separation,  and  so  the  pull  between  the  two 
initiates  the  conflict  and  the  tragedy  of  the  play. 

Points: — For  Study  or  Short  Replies. — I.  The  mean- 
ing of  reneges  (pronounced  in  two  syllables).  Compare 
the  use  of  this  word  in  Whist  for  refusing  to  follow 
suit.  2.  What  is  meant  by  the  "triple  Pillar?"  (I.  i.  19) 
3.  To  what  does  Charmian  refer — (I.  ii.  31).  A  child 
"to  whom  Herode  of  Jewry  may  do  Homage"?  Is  this 
an  allusion  to  a  current  event  or  is  it  an  anachronism  ?  4. 
The  Nile  and  its  importance  to  Egypt.  5.  Isis  and  the 
Religion  of  Egypt.  6.  Sextus  Pompeius  as  the  inadequate 

9 


io  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

representative  of  the  old  Republican  spirit  of  Rome.  7. 
Philo  and  Enobarbus  as  representative  of  current  public 
opinion  in  Rome  (See  Introduction  to  "Anthonie  and 
Cleopatra"  in  First  Folio  Edition).  8.  "The  Coursers 
heire"  which  "hath  yet  but  life."  (I.  ii.  217).  To  what 
common  superstition  does  this  refer?  9.  Of  what  sort 
was  the  "Inke  and  Paper"  of  Cleopatra's  day? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Why  is  Cleopatra  apprehen- 
sive? And  how  does  the  imagery  apply?  Does  Anthony 
love  Fulvia?  Is  Cleopatra  right  in  calling  Anthony's  at- 
titude at  this  time  "excellent  dissembling"  ?  Is  he  not  yet 
wholly  hers?  Does  he  know  himself?  Has  ambition  a 
stronger  hold  upon  him  now  than  Love  ?  What  does  Cleo- 
patra mean  by  the  "one  word"  she  wants  to  say,  but  does 
not?  (I.  iii.  108-119).  Is  it  a  ruse  or  real?  (See  In- 
troduction as  above). 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  II 

Topic: — Octavia  versus  Cleopatra. 

Hints: — Is  Octavia  like  Fulvia  an  active  factor  in  pre- 
cipitating the  action,  or  is  she  merely  a  tool  in  the  hands 
of  Caesar?  Note  how  the  influence  of  Cleopatra  makes 
itself  felt  throughout  the  act.  In  II.  i.  Pompey  hopes  Cleo- 
patra will  keep  Anthony  in  Egypt.  In  II.  ii.  (although 
her  name  is  mentioned  but  once),  she  is  in  the  minds  of 
all  present.  If  it  had  not  been  for  her,  would  Caesar  and 
Anthony  have  had  any  quarrel  to  make  up?  Show  what 
light  the  politics  of  Rome  shed  on  this  question,  and  what 
light  Shakespeare  sheds  upon  it. 


ANTONIE  AND  CLEOPATRA  n 

Is  Caesar  really  sorry  that  Anthony  is  under  Cleopatra's 
influence  or  is  he  through  his  friends,  Agrippa  and  Me- 
cenas,  manoeuvring  to  make  capital  for  himself  out  of  it? 
Note  the  opinion  of  Enobarbus  anent  the  sealing  of  the 
friendship  between  Anthony  and  Caesar,  by  the  marriage 
with  Octavia;  also,  how  Mecenas,  Caesar's  friend,  leads 
Enobarbus  on  to  talk  of  Cleopatra,  until  in  an  innocent 
way  he  says,  "Now,  Anthony  must  leave  her  utterly," 
and  gets  just  the  assurance  he  wants  from  Enobarbus. 

In  II.  iii.  Anthony,  while  expressing  devotion  to  Octav- 
ia, has  his  thoughts  bent  on  Cleopatra.  Do  you  think  that 
the  Soothsayer  read  Anthony's  mind,  or  had  he  been  in- 
structed by  Cleopatra  to  influence  Anthony  to  return  to 
her? 

II.  iv.  seems  to  be  introduced  merely  as  a  sort  of  cur- 
tain between  scenes  iii  and  v.  Or  what  do  you  think 
about  this?  Consult  the  Note  on  the  setting  of  these 
scenes  on  Shakespeare's  stage  in  First  Folio  Edition,  pp. 

I74-5- 

Notice  in  II.  v.  Cleopatra's  rage  and  chagrin  at  the 
news  of  the  marriage,  and  how  unconscious  she  is  at  the 
time  that  she  is  the  centre  round  which  not  only  Anthony's 
but  the  whole  civilized  world's  destiny  revolves. 

In  II.  vi.  and  vii.  the  quarrel  with  Pompey  is  disposed 
of  and  the  feast  on  Pompey's  galley  takes  place,  but  that 
Cleopatra  is  in  their  minds  is  proved  by  the  way  the  talk 
keeps  drifting  towards  Egypt.  Enobarbus,  too,  declares 
to  Menas  that  Anthony  will  return  to  her.  Is  this  intro- 
duced for  the  sake  of  hinting  at  how  the  plot  is  going? 
If  so,  is  it  merely  a  bit  of  romantic  art,  or  is  it  true  and 


12  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

natural?  Which  of  the  leaders:  i.  e.  Anthony,  Caesar, 
Pompey, — show  the  most  strength  and  policy  in  II.  vi.  vii  ? 

Points: — i.  Why  is  Cleopatra  called  "Egypt's  wid- 
ow"? 2.  Where  was  the  Cydnus?  3.  "Tended  her  i'  th' 
eyes,  and  made  her  bends  adornings."  (II.  ii.  243-244). — 
Does  the  pronoun  "her"  refer  to  Cleopatra  or  to  the 
Barge?  What  do  "eyes"  and  "bends"  mean?  (Cf.  Plut- 
arch and  see  Note,  First  Folio  Edition).  4.  "Julius  Caesar, 
who  at  Phillippi  the  good  Brutus  ghosted."  (II.  vi.  17). 
To  what  does  this  refer?  5.  "Pyramisi." — "Pyramus" 
was  used  in  Shakespeare's  day,  yet  it  is  perhaps  used  here 
to  show  that  Lepidus  was  getting  drunk.  6.  What  do 
you  think? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Did  Caesar  make  friends  with 
Anthony,  and  bring  about  his  alliance  with  Octavia  from 
interested  or  disinterested  motives?  What  part  do  Pom- 
pey and  Lepidus  take  in  the  plot?  Does  the  Play  need 
them?  Could  they  be  eliminated  advantageously? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  III 

Topic. — Cleopatra's  Supremacy  and  its  Consequences. 

Hints : — Of  what  use  is  HI.  i.  in  advancing  the  action  ? 
Note  in  III.  ii.  how  Caesar  anticipates  the  result  of  his  sis- 
ter's marriage.  Was  he  really  fond  of  her? 

How  long  historically  was  it  that  Anthony  remained 
with  Octavia?  How  does  the  play  correspond  with  that? 
Does  it  give  an  effect  of  a  short  time? 

What  impression  of  Cleopatra's  character  do  you  get 
from  the  scene  with  the  messenger?  (See  also  former 


ANTONIE  AND  CLEOPATRA  13 

messenger  scene.)  In  III.  iv.  during  Anthony's  talk  with 
Octavia  are  there  any  signs  that  he  was  meaning  to  hie  him 
to  his  "Egyptian  dish  again"  ?  Why  does  Enobarbus  say, 
"  'T  will  be  naught"  (III.  v.  24.) 

Is  Caesar's  concern  that  Octavia  should  come  with  cere- 
mony a  sign  of  his  respect  for  her,  or  a  sign  of  his  aristo- 
cratic notions?  Or  is  it  merely  hypocritical?  What  do 
you  think  is  the  secret  of  Cleopatra's  charm  for  Anthony? 
(See  "Comradeship  of  Cleopatra  and  Anthony,"  Poet-lore, 
Vol.  IV.,  p.  217,  April,  1892.)  Why  do  you  think  Cleo- 
patra fled?  Was  it  fright? 

Points: — I.  Which  of  the  incidents  narrated  in  this  act 
are  historical  ?  2.  Discuss  the  meaning  of  obsolete  words 
and  customs  throughout  the  play.  3.  Explain  difficult 
and  elliptical  passages  throughout  the  play,  such  as 
"Grates  me,  the  summe"  (I.  i.  28)  and  Cleopatra's  speech 
(III.  xiii.  190-199). 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Was  Cleopatra  to  blame  for 
Anthony's  flight?  Does  she  justify  herself  when  she  says 
she  "little  thought  he  would  have  followed"?  Was  Eno- 
barbus right  in  III.  vii.  4-22  or  Cleopatra?  If  he  was,  how 
reconcile  III.  xiii.  5-14?  Does  it  follow  that  men  and 
women  in  such  a  case  of  joint  leadership,  cannot  work 
together  effectively? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  IV 

Topic. — Anthony  at  Bay. 

Hints:— Compare  IV.  i.  and  IV.  ii.  for  the  light  they 
throw  on  the  character  of  Anthony  and  Caesar.  Are  they 


14  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

of  any  other  use  than  to  reveal  character?    What  events 
are  there  in  them  ? 

The  strain  of  fate  in  the  play :  The  significance  in  this 
respect  of  Shakespeare's  unimportant  scenes;  e.  g.  Char- 
mian's  fortune,  the  sooth-sayer's  warning,  and  scene  iii  of 
this  Act.  Why  does  Shakespeare  make  Anthony  use 
such  extravagant  language  ?  ( See  scenes  v.  iv.  vii,  etc. ) 

Is  the  Anthony  of  this  Play  a  direct  development  of  the 
Anthony  of  'Julius  Caesar'?  And  what  evidence  is  there 
from  both  Plays  that  a  critical  moment  was  likely  to  spur 
Anthony's  abilities  ?  Is  there  a  marked  development  in  the 
quality  of  the  love  of  both  Anthony  and  Cleopatra?  Fur- 
nivall  says  that  Anthony's  seeming  "impulse  towards  good 
in  the  marriage  with  Octavia  lasts  but  for  a  time,"  etc. 
As  his  only  impulse  in  making  the  match  was  policy  could 
it  fairly  be  called  an  impulse  towards  good? 

Points: — i.  Can  anything  excuse  the  mixed  metaphors  of 
scene  xii.  "The  hearts  that  [spaniel'd]  me  at  heels,"  dis- 
candie,  etc.  "Whose  bosome  was  my  crownet."  2.  Ex- 
plain the  later  allusions:  "The  shirt  of  Nessus,"  and 
"More  mad  than  Telamon,"  (IV.  xiii.  51;  xiv.  3). 
What  do  'No  more  but  in  a  Woman'  and  'the  high  Ro- 
man Fashion'  mean?  (IV.  xv.  93,  and  107).  Compare 
and  discuss  the  explanation  given  in  Notes  on  these  lines 
in  First  Folio  Edition). 

Queries  for  Discussion. — Was  Anthony's  moral  error 
his  marriage  with  Octavia  instead  of  fealty  to  Cleopatra? 
Is  Anthony's  constancy  to  Cleopatra  his  best  point  or  his 
worst?  Account  for  the  fine  dramatic  effect  of  his  sud- 
den—"Fall  not  a  teare  I  say,"  etc.,  (III.  xi.  78),  and  "I 


ANTONIE  AND  CLEOPATRA  15 

come,  my  Queen.  .  \  .  Stay  for  me,"  etc.  (IV.  xiv. 
6 1 ).  Is  the  beauty  in  these  that  so  instinctively  moves  the 
heart,  good  dramatically  but  wrong  morally  ?  ( See  Selected 
Criticism  in  First  Folio  Edition,  also  the  Introduction.) 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  V 


Topic. — Cleopatra's  Choice. 

Hints: — Is  it  love  for  Anthony  which  causes  Cleo- 
patra to  decide  on  death?  Is  it  her  distaste  to  being  car- 
ried in  Caesar's  triumph  at  Rome  ? 

Has  Shakespeare  drawn  his  Cleopatra  as  more  lovable 
than  Plutarch's  or  less?  Is  the  charm  which  Cleopatra 
exerts  upon  all  who  come  in  contact  with  her  in  the  play 
borne  out  by  her  actions  as  Shakespeare  has  represented 
them?  How  does  the  poet  contrive  to  convince  us  that 
she  was  fascinating? 

Is  Anthony's  suspicion  of  her  treachery  quite  uncalled 
for?  What  evidence  is  there  that  Shakespeare  meant  to 
show  her  hesitating  betwen  a  lower  course  and  a  courage- 
ous path  to  loyalty  and  death?  What  can  be  said  to  ex- 
plain or  excuse  the  last  trick  she  plays  on  Anthony? — 
that  of  her  alleged  death.  Note  the  devotion  of  her  attend- 
ants, her  effect  on  Dolabella,  etc.,  as  evidence  of  her  queen- 
liness  of  nature  as  well  as  of  manner. 

How  old  was  the  Cleopatra  of  history?  How  old  was 
Shakespeare's  Cleopatra?  Are  her  words  that  she  was 
"wrinkled  deep  in  time"  to  be  taken  literally?  What  do 
you  think  of  the  saying:  "Her  death  like  her  love,  her 
jealousy,  her  life  is  notoriously  studied,  calculated,  pre- 


16  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

pared,  planned;  even  death  made  an  enjoyment — pain- 
lessly the  asp  sucks"?  Or  is  this  true?  Her  death,  her 
love,  her  jealousy,  and  her  life,  though  full  of  simulation, 
had  a  core  of  genuine  nobility.  Much  of  her  insincerity 
was  assumed,  so  long  as  Anthony  was  alive,  to  suit  her 
woman's  purposes,  and  her  desire  for  perfect  love,  and, 
at  the  last  to  trick  Caesar's  vigilance,  so  that  she  could 
have  a  chance  to  die  in  the  "high  Roman  fashion."  She 
was  never  in  doubt  herself  as  to  her  own  love  for  An- 
thony, nor,  when  the  time  came,  of  her  course  with  Caesar. 
As  for  the  asp  it  was  her  best  means'  of  death  and  loyalty 
to  Anthony. 

Points:— i.  What  was  the  "Monument"?  (See  'Plut- 
arch's Lives.')  2.  The  tombs  of  Egypt  and  Egyptian 
modes  of  burial.  Who  built  the  pyramids?  Give  the  dif- 
ferent theories  held  as  to  their  use.  3.  "His  voice  was 
propertied  As  all  the  tuned  Spheres."  (V.  ii.  103.)  This 
refers  to  the  "music  of  the  spheres."  (See  in  "Merchant 
of  Venice."  First  Folio  Edition  Notes  on  v.  i.  71  and  72.) 
What  are  some  of  the  ideas  concerning  it?  (See  article 
on  'The  Music  of  the  Spheres'  in  Music  Review,  Novem- 
ber '93.)  4.  "And  I  shall  see  Some  squeaking  Cleopatra 
Boy  my  greatnesse"  (V.  ii.  264.)  Who  acted  the  wom- 
en's parts  in  Shakespeare's  day?  Does  this  allusion  in 
general  suit  as  well  for  the  Roman  or  Alexandrian  stage? 
Did  Shakespeare,  however,  only  mean  a  "local  hit"? 

Query  for  Discussion. — Did  Cleopatra  love  Anthony  or 
her  power  over  him? 


ANTONIE  AND  CLEOPATRA  17 

VI.    CHARACTER  STUDIES 

Topic.— The  Triumvirs  Contrasted. 

Hints : — LEPIDUS  :  his  weakness  and  lack  of  intelligence 
and  conceit  illustrated.  Show  how  his  speeches  are  dictated 
by  fear  of  the  other  two  triumvirs? 

ANTHONY  :  his  democratic  tendencies ;  his  personal  mag- 
netism. Collect  all  traces  of  these  throughout  the  play. 
Notice  his  friendship  for  Pompey,  the  representative  of  the 
republican  party,  and  the  greater  influence  over  him  of 
Anthony  than  of  Caesar. 

Why  is  Ventidius  introduced  in  the  play?  Notice  that 
Plutarch  speaks  of  him  as  the  only  "mean  man"  (i.  e.  not 
of  high  family)  in  command,  and  that  he  was  put  there 
through  favor  of  Anthony.  Discuss  especially  (I.  i.  66) : 
"Wee'll  wander  through  the  streets,  and  note  The  quali- 
ties of  people;"  (I.  iv.  22)  :  to  sit  and  keepe  the  Tipling 
with  a  Slave."  Are  Anthony's  democratic  tendencies 
founded  on  principle  or  easy-going  habits?  Caesar  said 
Anthony  was  "th'  abstracts  of  all  faults  That  all  men  fol- 
low." Can  dependence  be  put  upon  Caesar's  opinion  of 
him?  Contrast  his  final  opinion  of  him  at  the  end  of  the 
play.  Compare  with  the  opinions  of  Cleopatra  and  Eno- 
barbus.  Which  shows  the  finer  spirit  in  the  making  up 
of  their  quarrel,  Caesar  or  Anthony?  Examples  of  his 
personal  prowess  and  generosity?  Is  it  estimable  or  de- 
spicable in  Anthony  that  he  was  a  lover  of  men  at  the  ex- 
pense of  his  dignity,  a  lover  of  Cleopatra  at  the  cost  of 
a  Kingdom. 

CAESAR:  his  pushing  traits,  his  coolness  and  domineer- 


i8  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

ing  qualities  as  opposed  to  Anthony's  warmth  and  com- 
panionableness.  His  disgust  at  the  Banquet,  his  wariness, 
his  always  alert  cunning.  Collect  instances  throughout 
the  play.  (I.  iv.  39).  Everie  houre  .  .  shalt  thou  have 
report,"  (III.  vi.  34,  69) :  "I  have  eyes  upon  him,"  etc. 
"'Tis  done  already  and  the  Messenger  gone,"  and  so  on. 
His  friends:  What  is  the  basis  of  the  loyalty  of  Agrippa 
and  Mecenas?  Is  it  the  bond  of  party?  From  whom 
proceed  the  active  events  of  the  play,  Anthony  or  Caesar  ? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Did  Caesar  overthrow  An- 
thony, because  of  superior  valor  or  strategy?  Did  he  con- 
quer because  of  the  Imperialistic  idea  he  represented  and 
for  which  the  Roman  world  was  ripe? 

VII.  ARTISTRY 

Topic. — The  Dramatic  Significance  of  Enobarbus. 

Hints: — Prof.  Corson  says  Enobarbus  is  as  good  as  a 
chorus,  the  whole  situation  of  things  and  their  successive 
stages  can  be  read  in  his  speeches.  Prove  this  by  selection 
showing  his  keensightedness  and  his  dramatic  usefulness. 
Is  there,  however,  a  limit  to  the  dependence  to  be  proper- 
ly placed  upon  the  views  Enobarbus  expresses?  That 
limit  should  be  based  upon  his  own  character  and  insight. 
Can  it  be  supposed  that  he  presents  Shakespeare's  views? 
Is  it  politic  for  him  as  a  friend  of  Anthony's  to  talk  as 
freely  as  he  does  to  Mecenas,  Agrippa,  and  Menas?  Did 
Enobarbus  do  well  or  ill  in  deserting  Anthony's  falling 
fortunes?  If  well,  why  was  he  so  unhappy  over  it? 
Here  he  is  not  merely  a  dramatic  exponent  of  the  evil 


ANTONIE  AND  CLEOPATRA  19 

crisis  in  Anthony's  fortunes  but  an  individual  with  a  con- 
science which  has  a  moral  bearing  on  the  conflict  of  the 
play  between  Love  and  Ambition. 

Topic. — The  Workmanship  of  the  Play. 

Hints: — Show  how  Shakespeare  has  developed  from 
mere  hints  in  Plutarch  whole  passages  and  scenes  in  the 
play;  e.  g.,  the  meeting  between  Caesar  and  Anthony  in 
Act  II.;  the  feast  on  Pompey's  galley;  the  meeting  of 
Anthony  and  Cleopatra  as  given  by  Enobarbus  to  Agrippa 
etc.  Show  how  Shakespeare's  additional  touches  impart 
an  imaginative  glow  to  the  whole  picture. 

Do  these  alterations  from  Plutarch  throw  light  on  the 
characters  in  a  way  to  advance  the  action  or  to  enhance 
the  poetry?  Find  as  many  examples  as  possible  of  these 
two  kinds  of  expansion,  the  dramatic  and  the  poetic. 
What  parts  of  Plutarch  has  Shakespeare  left  out  and 
what  is  the  effect  of  such  omissions. 

What  links  of  literary  connection  are  there  between 
'Julius  Caesar'  and  'Anthony  and  Cleopatra'  ?  Were  they 
written  consecutively?  Dowden  says,  in  his  'Shakespeare 
Primer,'  that  while  the  events  of  Roman  history  closely 
connect  the  two  plays  "yet  Shakespeare  allowed  a  number 
of  years  to  pass  before  he  seems  to  have  thought  of  his 
second  Roman  play" ;  and  this,  he  thinks,  may  mean  that 
"the  historical  connection  was  now  a  connection  too  ex- 
ternal and  material  to  carry  him  on  from  subject  to  sub- 
ject as  it  had  sufficed  to  do  while  he  was  engaged  upon 
his  series  of  English  Historical  Plays  .  .  .  Dramas 
now  written  upon  subjects  taken  from  history  become  not 
chronicles  but  tragedies.  The  moral  interest  was  su- 


20  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

preme."  The  spiritual  material  dealt  with  by  Shake- 
speare's imagination  in  "Julius  Caesar"  lay  wide  apart 
from  that  which  forms  the  centre  of  "Anthony  and  Cleo- 
patra." Are  the  mixed  metaphors  of  the  Play,  and  the 
condensed  and  elliptical  passages  signs  of  carelessness  of 
workmanship  ? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Does  the  devotion  to  charac- 
ter development  in  the  Play  dwarf  its  historical  interest? 
If  it  gives  an  impression  of  a  world  for  a  stage  can  any 
of  the  artistic  means  be  traced  by  which  this  is  effected? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CORIOLANUS 
THE  STORY  OF  ACT  I 

Topic. — For  Paper,  Classwork,  or  private  Study.   Co- 
riolanus  as  Soldier :    Premonitions  of  his  final  failure. 

Hints : — Observe  the  attitude  of  the  citizens  toward  him 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Play; — the  conflict  between  their 
admiration  of  him  for  the  soldierly  deeds  he  does  for  his 
country,  and  their  dislike  of  him  for  his  haughtiness.  Do 
the  demands  of  the  people  for  corn  at  their  own  rates 
seem  justifiable  as  Shakespeare  presents  the  case?  Are 
the  criticisms  by  Martius  (afterward  called  Coriolanus) 
of  the  people's  changeableness  deserved?  If  they  are,  can 
any  apology  for  this  characteristic  in  them  be  made?  Ob- 
'  serve  how  the  Tribunes  make  use  of  his  unpopularity  to 
»  detract  from  his  qualities  as  a  soldier.  What  light  do  you 
get  upon  his  soldierly  qualities  from  the  attitude  of  his 
enemy  Auffidius  ?  At  the  beginning  of  the  play  one  of  the 
citizens  remarked  that  Coriolanus  does  all  his  fighting  not 
for  his  country,  but  to  please  his  mother  (I.  i.  39).  In  the 
scene  between  Volumnia,  Virgilia,  and  Valeria,  does  the 
talk  of  Volumnia  give  in  any  way  the  impression  that 
she  might  have  been  instrumental  in  developing  her  son's 
delight  in  war?  The  remainder  of  the  Act  is  occupied 
with  showing  forth  the  military  prowess  of  the  hero.  Ob- 
serve the  hatred  mingled  with  respect  of  the  two  sworn 
enemies,  Auffidius  and  Coriolanus.  Is  there  anything  in 

21 


22  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

their  attitude  toward  each  other  to  hint  in  the  slightest 
degree  of  the  friendship  which  afterwards  exists  between 
them? 

Observe  the  contrast,  after  the  victory  has  been  won,  be- 
tween the  warlike  mood  of  Coriolanus  and  his  mood  of 
contempt  for  the  praise  he  receives.  Is  this  simply  modesty 
or  is  there  a  streak  in  his  nature  which  is  at  odds  with  his 
genius  for  war.  Note  his  tenderness  for  the  man  who  had 
housed  him.  (I.  ix.  98-103.) 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Is  it  contrary  to  the  majesty 
of  Tragedy,  as  one  critic  has  said,  to  bring  a  mob  on  the 
stage  ? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  II 

Topic, — Coriolanus  as  Candidate:  Conspiracy  of  the 
Tribunes  helped  by  the  Nature  of  Coriolanus. 

Hints: — Considering  that  Menenius  knows  the  atti- 
tude of  the  people  and  the  Tribunes  toward  Coriolanus, 
does  he  show  himself  a  very  politic  friend  in  his  remarks 
to  Sicinius  and  Brutus  in  the  first  Scene  of  this  Act? 
Observe  the  effect  of  the  triumphant  entry  of  Coriolanus 
upon  Menenius  and  his  own  family;  upon  the  Tribunes; 
upon  the  nobles;  and  even  the  disgruntled  people?  Just 
how  do  they  each  take  it?  In  the  conversation  of  the 
officers  (Scene  ii)  are  there  not  some  good  criticisms  upon 
Coriolanus's  way  of  treating  the  people;  e.  g.  "Now,  to 
seeme  to  affect  the  mallice  and  the  displeasure  of  the  Peo- 
ple, is  as  bad,  as  that  which  he  dislikes,  to  flatter  them  for 
their  love."  (II.  ii.  17-24). 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CORIOLANUS      23 

In  the  scene  in  the  Capitol,  does  one  feel  admiration  for 
Coriolanus's  dislike  of  public  praise,  or  irritation  that  he 
should  have  expressed  it  in  so  unmannerly  a  fashion.  In 
spite  of  his  not  having  made  the  right  sort  of  impression 
upon  the  Senate,  and  in  spite  of  the  remarks  by  Brutus 
intended  to  weaken  his  cause,  and  finally  in  spite  of  his 
brusque  way  of  treating  the  people,  do  you  think  Corio- 
lanus  might  have  gained  the  censorship  if  it  had  not  been 
that  Brutus  and  Sicinius  fomented  the  disaffection  of 
the  people  by  making  the  most  of  the  unpopular  aspects  of 
his  character?  Observe  that  Coriolanus  is  not  without 
favor  among  the  people,  showing  that  his  integrity  of 
character  does,  after  all,  make  an  impression. 

Query  for  Discussion : — Can  one  be  a  true  leader  of  the 
people  without  entering  into  sympathy  with  their  point  of 
view? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  III 

Topic.— Coriolanus  as  "A  Foe  to  the  Public  Weale:" 
the  Individual  versus  the  Democracy. 

Hints: — Are  the  criticisms  in  this  Act  of  Coriolanus 
against  the  actions  of  the  people  justified?  Has  he  any 
perception  of  the  fact  that  allowances  should  be  made 
for  the  shortcomings  of  the  uneducated?  Is  there  any 
indication  that  he  is  more  incensed  at  the  Tribunes  than 
at  the  people?  Does  he  show  that  his  sympathies  are 
with  a  paternal  form  of  government  as  opposed  to  a  dema- 
gogue-led democracy.  What  justification  can  be  made 
for  the  Tribunes?  Are  they  right  when  they  say  (III.  i. 


24  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

192)  that  Coriolanus  has  spoken  like  a  traitor,  and  should 
answer  as  traitors  do?  Compare  with  the  analysis  of 
his  character  given  by  Menenius  (III.  i.  3i3-3!9)  '• 

"His  nature  is  too  noble  for  the  World : 
He  would  not  flatter  Neptune  for  his  Trident 
Or  Jove,   for's   power   to   Thunder;    his    Heart's   his 

Mouth : 

What  his  Brest  forges,  that  his  Tongue  must  vent, 
And  being  angry,  does  forget  that  ever 
He  heard  the  Name  of  Death." 

What  do  you  think  of  Volumnia's  arguments  when 
she  is  trying  to  persuade  Coriolanus  to  adopt  a  different 
tone  toward  the  people?  In  this  scene  between  the  moth- 
er and  son  which  one  do  you  feel  in  the  end  has  the  no- 
bler nature?  There  can  be  no  question  as  to  which  had 
the  wiser  policy  with  conditions  such  as  they  were,  but 
is  a  wise  policy  always  the  noblest?  Was  Coriolanus 
right  in  doing  what  his  mother  wished  him  to  do  against 
his  own  convictions?  Is  it  any  wonder  that  under  these 
circumstances,  Coriolanus  succeeded  no  better  than  be- 
fore, or  do  you  think  he  would  have  succeeded  had  not 
Sicinius  cleverly  aroused  his  temper  by  accusing  him  of 
being  a  traitor?  (III.  iii.  85-88) : 

"We  charge  you  that  you  have  contriv'd  to  take 
From  Rome  all  season 'd  Office,  and  to  winde 
Your  self  into  a  power  tyrannicall, 
For  which  you  are  a  Traitor  to  the  people." 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CORIOLANUS      25 

Queries  for  Discussion: — According  to  one  critic  there 
is  a  lack  of  poetic  justice  in  the  play.  For  example,  the 
Tribunes  should  have  been  punished  for  their  faults  in 
banishing  Coriolanus,  and  for  procuring  this  sentence  by 
indirect  methods,  by  exasperating  and  inflaming  the  Peo- 
ple by  artifices  and  insinuations,  etc.  Were  they  left  un- 
punished ?  Is  poetic  justice  a  necessary  element  of  a  play? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  IV 

Topic. — Coriolanus  the  Avenger:  the  Democracy  tamed. 

Hints : — Notice  the  touch  of  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the 
Tribunes  as  to  the  wisdom  of  their  course  in  banishing 
Coriolanus  as  soon  as  he  is  gone.  They  try  to  avoid 
Volumnia  and  when  forced  to  meet  her,  attempt  apolo- 
gies by  wishing  Coriolanus  (IV.  ii.  4042)  "had  continued 
to  his  Country  as  he  began,  and  not  unknit  himself  The 
Noble  Knot  he  made," 

Stung  by  Volumnia's  lashing  tongue,  they  try  to  make 
out  that  she  has  lost  her  wits.  Does  this  fear  of  the 
consequences  of  their  own  action  continue  ?  What  do  you 
think  of  Coriolanus's  next  step — joining  the  enemy  and 
making  war  against  Rome?  Was  there  any  possibility 
but  this  for  a  banished  soldier  and  nobleman  in  such  a  civ- 
ilization? Observe  the  attitude  of  his  old  friends,  Co- 
minius  and  Menenius  in  the  matter;  also,  that  of  the 
people.  How  does  the  character  of  Coriolanus  affect  his 
relations  with  Auffidius?  Why  should  the  Volscian  sol- 
diers adore  him,  when  the  citizens  of  his  own  city  so 
hated  him? 


26  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Is  Coriolanus  in  any  way 
ahead  of  his  times  ? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  V 

Topic. — Coriolanus  the  human:  Finally  overwhelmed 
because  of  his  own  tenderness. 

Hints: — Is  Coriolanus  right  in  not  listening  to  the 
pleadings  of  his  old  friends  from  Rome?  While  he  might 
be  justified  in  avenging  his  wrongs,  would  it  not  be  a 
higher  course  to  show  mercy  when  he  had  seemingly  every- 
thing in  his  own  hands.  Was  he  influenced  in  his  action 
by  his  promises  to  Auffidius?  He  had  no  consciousness, 
had  he  ?  that  Auffidius  was  planning  a  blow  against  him. 

When  he  at  last  gives  in  to  the  entreaties  and  argu- 
ments of  his  mother  is  it  more  because  of  her  emotional  in- 
fluence over  him  than  because  he  is  convinced  of  the  fact 
that  he  should  exercise  mercy?  Was  Auffidius  justified, 
from  his  point  of  view,  in  pronouncing  Coriolanus  a 
traitor?  Was  it  weak  in  Coriolanus  to  be  so  led  by  his 
mother?  or  does  it  show  a  most  lovable  side  of  his  na- 
ture? What  do  you  think  of  the  action  of  Auffidius  in 
having  him  treacherously  murdered  from  a  political  point 
of  view?  As  Coriolanus  had  made  peace  with  Rome  and 
gone  back  on  his  agreement  with  Auffidius,  was  there  any 
surety  that  he  might  not  later  take  up  arms  against  his 
rival  again,  especially  if  Volumnia  should  want  him  to 
do  it? 

Queries  for  Discussion :— Is  the  final  annihilation  of 
Coriolanus  due  to  the  flaws  inherent  in  his  own  character 
or  to  the  conditions  under  which  he  lived? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CORIOLANUS      27 

THE  ART  OF  THE  PLAY 

i 

Topic. — Comparison  of  the  Play  with  its  source  in 
Plutarch's  "Life  of  Coriolanus." 

Hints: — Note  what  incidents  told  in  the  history  are 
used  by  Shakespeare,  and  how  he  has  developed  them. 
Also,  what  incidents  he  has  left  out,  and  show  reason  why 
he  has  done  so.  What  is  the  general  effect  of  his  changes 
from  Plutarch?  Do  they  have  to  do  with  strengthening 
of  plot  chiefly,  or  with  the  intensifying  of  the  political 
situation,  the  development  of  character  or  with  all  of 
these.  (North's  translation  of  Plutarch's  Lives  may  be 
consulted,  or  this  Play  in  the  First  Folio  Edition  of 
Shakespeare.  See  Sources  and  Literary  Notes  giving 
parallel  extracts). 

Query  for  Discussion: — Upon  what  does  this  play  de- 
pend chiefly  for  its  interest — plot,  situation,  or  the  por- 
trayal of  character? 

Topic. — Literary  Style  and  Allusions. 

Hints : — Is  it  one  of  Shakespeare's  earlier  or  later  plays? 
(Consult  "Date  of  Composition"  in  First  Folio  Shake- 
speare). Are  there  many  variations  in  the  texts  of  the  early 
editions?  Has  the  text  been  much  altered  by  editors  and 
commentators  and  have  the  alterations  been  on  the  whole 
at  all  necessary?  (Consult  "Early  Editions"  Notes  and 
Variorum  Readings  in  First  Folio  Shakespeare).  How 
does  this  play  compare  with  "Julius  Caesar"  in  the  char- 
acter of  its  allusions?  Are  they  more,  or  less,  typically 
English?  How  may  these  two  plays  be  compared  as  to  the 
number  of  phrases  needing  a  gloss  to  make  them  compre- 


28  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

hensible?  In  whose  speeches  do  you  find  the  most  poetic 
and  beautiful  language,  in  whose,  the  least?  How  does  it 
compare  with  "Julius  Caesar"  in  this  respect?  (Literary 
Illustrations  in  First  Folio  Shakespeare  may  be  consulted). 

CHARACTER  IN  ACTION 

Topic. — The  Men  and  Women  in  the  play. 

Hints: — Are  there  any  signs  of  development  in  the 
character  of  Coriolanus,  or  is  he  a  man  of  impulse,  with 
two  or  three  well  defined  moods  from  one  to  the  other  of 
which  he  passes?  If  this  is  so,  what  are  the  moods,  and 
what  causes  him  to  change  from  one  to  another?  Are 
there  any  signs  of  his  being  a  man  of  intellectual  or  moral 
convictions?  Comparing  his  two  friends,  Cominius  and 
Menenius,  with  his  two  enemies,  the  Tribunes  of  the  peo- 
ple, should  you  say  that  his  friends  express  any  better  argu- 
ments for  being  on  his  side  than  his  enemies  do  for  being 
against  him?  Is  Auffidius  a  more  barbaric  type  of  man 
than  Coriolanus?  How  are  the  characters  of  Volumnia 
and  Virgilia  contrasted?  Is  Volumnia  a  typical  Roman 
mother?  How  had  her  influence  upon  Coriolanus  been 
exercised?  Compare  the  citizens  in  this  play  with  those 
in  "Julius  Caesar"  and  point  out  what  characteristics  they 
have  in  common.  Observe  the  remarks  of  all  the  minor 
characters  and  show  what  light  they  throw  upon  the 
chief  actors  in  the  drama,  and  what  effect,  if  any,  they 
have  upon  the  action. 

Topic. — A  Comparative  Study — Comparison  of  Ibsen's 
Dr.  Stockman  with  Coriolanus.  (See  Introduction  to 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CORIOLANUS      29 

"Coriolanus"  in  First  Folio  Shakespeare). 

Hints: — Give  brief  sketch  of  Ibsen's  play  "The  Ene- 
my of  the  People"  of  which  Dr.  Stockman  is  the  hero. 
Give  the  salient  points  in  the  situation  in  both  plays  and 
show  how  far  they  parallel  each  other.  Show  how  much 
more  ethical  Dr.  Stockman's  stand  is  than  that  of  Corio- 
lanus. Is  this  due  entirely  to  the  difference  in  the  condi- 
tions or  to  something  inherently  different  in  the  natures 
of  the  two  men.  The  leaders  of  the  compact  majority 
are  much  more  complex  than  the  Tribunes  of  the  people : 
Why  is  this  so?  Has  Mrs.  Stockman  any  of  the  quali- 
ties of  the  Roman  matron  ?  The  lesson  of  the  Ibsen  play 
is  that  no  man  is  strong  until  he  can  stand  alone,  is  this 
the  lesson  of  the  Shakespeare  play?  Was  Coriolanus 
really  more  an  enemy  of  the  people  than  Dr.  Stockman? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Is  it  true  that  Sicinius  and 
Brutus,  like  the  Burgomaster  and  Aslaksen  in  Ibsen's  play, 
are,  rather  than  their  inflexible  opponents, — a  Dr.  Stock- 
man or  a  Coriolanus — the  serious  foes  that  choke  the 
moral  growth  of  a  competent  and  genuine  democracy  and 
delay  the  ripening  of  that  ideal  human  fruit  of  the  social 
culture  of  the  ages  and  races?  (See  pp.  ix  and  x  of  In- 
troduction, First  Folio  Shakespeare). 

MOOT  POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

I.  The  anger  of  the  people  against  Coriolanus  was  just, 
for  he  thought  so  well  of  his  own  actions  as  to  believe 
that  even  the  Rights,  Customs,  and  Privileges  of  his  Coun- 
try where  his  due  for  his  valor  and  success.  (After  Gildon, 


30  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

see  "Selected  Criticism"  First  Folio  Shakespeare,  p.  284). 

II.  "Faction  is  a  Monster  that  often  makes  the  slaughter 
'twas  designed  for;   and  as  often  turns  its  fury  on  those 
that  hatch't  it.    The  moral  therefore"  of  the  play  is  "to 
recommend  submission  and  adherence  to  established  law." 
(Extract  from  N.  Tate,  see  same,  p.  283). 

III.  The  Good  must  never  fail  to  prosper,  and  the 
Bad  must  be  always  punished:     Otherwise  the  incidents, 
and  particularly  the  Catastrophe  which  is  the  grand  final 
incident,  are  liable  to  be  imparted  to  Chance  rather  than 
to  Almighty  Conduct  and  Sovereign  Justice.     The  want 
of  the  impartial  distribution  of  Justice  makes  the  "Co- 
riolanus" of  Shakespeare  to  be  without  Moral."     (John 
Dennis,  see  p.  286). 

IV.  Was  Shakespeare  justified  in  introducing  the  Ro- 
man people  who  rose  in  vindication  of  their  just  rights  as 
a  mere  rabble?     (After  John  Dennis,  see  p.  288-289). 

V.  The   tragedy   of   Coriolanus    is   one   of    the   most 
amusing  of  our  author's  performances.      (Samuel  John- 
son, see  p.  290).    What  do  you  think? 

VI.  Coriolanus  is  a  store  house  of  political  common- 
places in  which  the  arguments  for  and  against  aristocracy 
or  democracy,  on  the  privileges  of  the  few  and  the  claims 
of  the  many,  on  liberty  and  slavery,  power  and  the  abuse 
of  it,  peace  and  war,  are  very  ably  handled  with  the  spirit 
of  a  poet  and  the  acuteness  of  a  philosopher,  the  whole 
dramatic  moral  being  that  those  who  have  little  shall  have 
less,  and  those  that  have  much  shall  take  all  the  others 
have  left.     (After  Hazlitt.     See  pp.  291-292).     Do  you 
feel  this  is  a  good  summing  up  of  the  play? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CORIOLANUS      31 

VII.  This  play  illustrates  the  wonderfully  philosophic 
impartiality   of   Shakespeare's   politics.      (Coleridge,   see 
p.  292). 

VIII.  Is  it  probable  that  Shakespeare  wrote  this  play  as 
a  warning  against  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  the 
growing  power  of  the  people?  (After  Wright,  see  p.  295). 

IX.  The  play  of  "Coriolanus"  is  a  mine  of  insults  to 
the  people.     ( Tolstoy,  see  p.  295 ) . 

X.  Volumnia  is  a  woman  whose  understanding  is  by 
no  means  ordinary  but  which  extends  no  further  than  the 
customary  point  of  woman's  sense — to  do  mischief.  (Mrs. 
Inchbald,  see  p.  291).     Is  this  the  best  that  can  be  said 
for  Volumnia? 

XI.  In  the  part  of  Coriolanus,  human  nature,  in  the 
likeness  of  a  stubborn  school  boy,  is  so  exquisitely  deline- 
ated, that  every  mental  trait  of  the  one  can  be  discerned 
in  the  propensities  of  the  other,  so  as  forcibly  to  call  to 
the  recollection,  that  children  are  the  originals  of  men. 
(Mrs.  Inchbald,  see  p.  291). 

XII.  The  People  is  conceived  as  the  fulcrum  of  power 
by  Shakespeare,  through  his  own  peculiar  artistic  arrange- 
ment of  the  tragic  action  in  "Coriolanus"  as  in  "Julius 
Caesar."     The  leverage,   moreover,   upon   this  fulcrum, 
being  unrighteously  put  in  the  intervening  hands  of  self- 
interested  and  envious  political  wire-pullers,  the  Hero  of 
Rome  and  the  Roman  People  are  played  off  against  each 
other,  through  their  mutual  shortcomings  and  enmity,  to 
their  mutual   disadvantage,   and  almost  to   the  ruin  of 
Rome.      (p.  xiv  of  Introduction). 

General   summary  of   the  conclusions  reached   as   to 


32  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

which  of  these  opinions  may  be  harmonized  with  the  play, 
which  should  be  discarded  as  altogether  wrong,  and  which 
should  be  accepted  as  showing  the  clearest  insight  in  re- 
gard to  it? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CYMBELINE 
THE  STORY  OF  ACT  I 

Topic. — For  Paper,  Classwork  or  Private  Study — The 
Schemes  of  the  Queen  and  lachimo. 

Hints: — Show  how  the  story  of  Act  I  consists  in  the 
attempts  made  first  by  the  Queen  and  then  by  lachimo  to 
part  Imogen  and  Posthumus,  the  loyal  wife  and  husband. 
Note  the  use  of  the  talk  of  the  first  and  second  gentleman 
in  telling  all  it  is  important  to  know  of  events  prior  to 
the  opening  of  the  play.  What  are  these  prior  events? 
Does  this  scene  throw  light  on  any  character  or  only  on 
events?  From  whom  are  our  suspicions  of  the  Queen 
gathered  ?  I.  i.  and  ii.  convey  impressions  of  the  contempti- 
ble nature  of  Cloten  and  the  graceful  devotion  of  Imogen 
to  her  husband,  which  make  the  union  of  the  Queen's  son 
and  the  Princess  impossible,  and  which  yet  it  is  the  prov- 
ince of  the  plot  to  attempt  to  accomplish,  so  that  by  these 
scenes  curiosity  is  whetted  to  know  the  issue  of  the  most 
important  scenes  of  this  act, — i*.  e.  scenes  iv.  and  vi.  Why 
is  scene  v.  an  important  one?  What  seem  to  be  lachimo's 
motives,  as  shown  in  scene  iv.  for  working  Posthumus  up 
to  laying  the  wager?  How  is  his  action  explicable  of  giv- 
ing up  the  ring  he  had  vowed  should  remain  "while  sense 
can  keepe  it  on"?  Notice  the  valuble  bit  of  self-descrip- 
tion Posthumus  lets  slip  when  he  says  he  "rather  shun'd  to 
go  even"  with  what  he  heard  than  "to  be  guided"  by  it. 

33 


34  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

Shakespeare  shows  the  wager  to  be  the  consequence  of  a 
revived  boast  first  made  in  younger  days,  instead  of  newly 
broached  by  a  bridegroom  just  exiled  from  his  wife. 
Does  this  make  it  seem  less  dishonoring  to  Posthumus? 
It  is  a  comparatively  modern  feeling  to  resent  a  husband's 
testing  his  wife's  virtue  or  fidelity.  (See  The  Ballad  of 
the  "Nut  Brown  Mayd"  as  a  specimen  of  such  ideals, 
or  compare  modern  dislike  of  such  ordeals  with  the  old 
time  popularity  of  "Patient  Griselda"  see  Chaucer's  ver- 
sion of  the  story  in  "The  Clerk's  Tale").  Notice,  too,  that 
when  lachimo  tells  Imogen  tales  of  her  husband's  unfaith- 
fulness and  makes  love  to  her  himself,  he  is  able  to  excuse 
himself  by  the  plea  that  he  is  only  trying  her  loyalty  out  of 
friendship  to  Posthumus.  She  pardons  him  and  is  ready 
to  be  snared  in  his  next  trap  because  this  does  not  seem  to 
her  unnatural. 

Query  for  Discussion: — Is  there  any  excuse  for  Post- 
humus's  bet  with  lachimo  ? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  II. 

i 

Topic. — lachimo's  Success  and  Cloten's  Repulse. 

Hints: — In  Act  II.  the  evil  influences  of  the  drama 
have  full  play  and  seem  to  be  closing  around  Imogen. 
Note  that  the  only  one  thoroughly  to  sympathize  with  her 
position  is  the  second  lord,  and  he  is  aware  of  only  half 
of  the  mischief  brewing.  Faithfulness  to  her  husband, 
candor  to  Cloten,  the  kindly  spirit  shown  in  her  willing- 
ness to  take  charge  of  lachimo's  chest  are  not  yet  to  tri- 
umph. Her  good  traits  only  serve  to  whet  her  persecu- 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CYMBELINE        35 

tors'  appetites  for  mischief,  and  actually  to  help  them. 
Cloten  is  effectually  repulsed  by  her  frankness  in  her  pref- 
erence of  her  husband's  '  'meanest  garment,"  but  she  thus 
wounds  his  self-love  so  deeply  as  to  change  his  politic  woo- 
ing into  a  wicked  passion,  which  in  the  next  act  he  lays  a 
plan  to  gratify.  So,  also,  through  her  graciousness  in  do- 
ing lachimo  a  favor  as  her  husband's  friend,  she  is  herself 
the  instrument  of  her  own  undoing.  Is  there  much  choice 
between  Cloten  and  lachimo?  Which  should  you  judge 
from  this  act  had  naturally  the  more  depraved  nature? 
Note  that  Cloten  engages  music  to  penetrate  to  Imogen 
because  he  has  been  advised  she  likes  it,  while  he  does  not 
seem  to  have  any  appreciation  of  it.  On  the  other  hand, 
lachimo  shows  considerable  sensibility  to  beauty,  if  not  to 
goodness.  The  reader  can  only  wonder  that  the  man  who 
could  talk  as  he  did  when  in  Imogen's  chamber  could  be 
villain  enough  to  steal  her  bracelet  from  her  arm.  Is 
this  in  character?  Does  Shakespeare  make  all  his  people 
talk  too  well?  How  long  did  it  take  lachimo  to  note 
the  room,  steal  the  bracelet,  and  get  back  into  the  chest? 
What  are  the  defects  and  excellences  of  the  Play  as  to  the 
arrangement  of  time?  See  the  "Duration  of  the  Action" 
also  Daniel's  Time  Analysis  in  the  "First  Folio  Shake- 
speare." 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Is  it  natural  that  Imogen 
should  not  connect  the  loss  of  her  bracelet  with  lachimo's 
visit  ? 

Was  Posthumus  too  easily  convinced  of  Imogen's  guilt? 
Was  it  lachimo's  clever  acting  or  his  evidence  that 
worked  on  Posthumus? 


36  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  III 

Topic. — Posthumus  joins  the  Evil  Forces  against  Imo- 
gen. The  Advent  of  New  Powers  for  Good. 

Hints: — The  effect  is  shown  of  lachimo's  success  in 
making  Posthumus  a  worse  enemy  to  himself  than  any 
one  else  could  be.  This  act  introduces  also  another  fac- 
tor of  the  plot, — the  Roman  embassy,  which  leads  to  the 
war  and  serves  to  introduce  the  King's  lost  sons  who  are 
to  befriend  Imogen.  It  also  serves  to  bring  lachimo  to 
England ;  to  reconcile  the  King  and  Posthumus,  etc.  The 
details  and  cross  effects  of  these  new  strands  in  the  plot 
may  be  traced  out  fully  in  the  last  Act;  but  here  it  is  to 
be  noted  that  the  embassy  is  not  irrelevant,  it  foreshadows 
something  of  importance.  What  may  be  gathered  from 
III.  i.  of  the  sway  of  the  Queen  and  her  son?  Notice  in 
III.  ii.  the  pathetic  effect  of  Imogen's  joy  and  child-like 
talk  over  the  letter  which  is  really  a  trap.  Is  it  natural 
that  Pisanio  should  judge  more  accurately  of  Posthumus 
than  his  wife  does?  Compare  his  first  exclamations  in 
III.  ii.  on  receiving  this  letter  with  Imogen's  outburst  in 
III.  iv.  when  she  reads  the  same  letter.  What  reason  is 
there  for  putting  in  scene  iii.  between  scenes  ii.  and  iv? 
In  putting  scene  v.  between  iv.  and  vi.  All  through 
Act  III.  the  scenes  alternate,  giving  a  broken  effect  as  to 
time  and  place.  See  how  this  aids  the  illusion  needed  that 
the  journey  of  Pisanio  and  Imogen  has  been  taken,  and 
that  uncertain  and  troubled  events  are  in  progress  and  new 
influences  at  hand.  This  is  in  marked  contrast  with  Act 
IV.,  where  there  is  much  bustle  but  all  in  the  same  place 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CYMBELINE        37 

and  the  events  occur  in  direct  sequence.  Is  there  any  evi- 
dence that  Pisanio  doubted  Imogen  before  he  saw  how  she 
took  the  accusation  ?  Why  is  Imogen  so  ready  to  obey  ?  Is 
it  that  she  considers  it  her  duty;  or  that  she  is  helpless 
and  there  is  nothing  else  to  do  until  she  finds  that  Pisanio 
is  her  friend? — or  is  she  crushed  with  unhappiness  and 
feels  nothing  endurable  but  death?  How  can  her  readi- 
ness to  have  Pisanio  accomplish  her  husband's  will  be 
reconciled  with  her  eagerness  to  adopt  Pisanio's  plan  of  dis- 
guise? Compare  her  sayings, — though  those  who  are  be- 
trayed "feel  the  Treason  sharpely  yet  the  Traitor  Stands 
in  worse  case  of  woe," — and  "I  greeve  myselfe  To  thinke 
.  .  how  thy  memory  will  be  pang'd  by  me,"  with 
Hermione's  expressions  under  similar  misjudgment  in 
"The  Winters  Tale."  Imogen  supposes  her  husband  has 
misread  her  willingness  to  disobey  her  father  and  hold 
to  him,  as  an  act  of  passion  rather  than  of  devotion.  The 
height  of  her  ideal  of  love  is  marked  in  what  she  says 
of  her  marriage,  "It  is  no  act  of  common  passage,  but 
A  straine  of  Rarenesse."  Is  it  not  inconsistent  with 
Pisanio's  loyalty  and  his  care  of  Imogen  that  he  should 
betray  her  by  giving  Cloten  the  letter  and  Posthumus's 
clothes?  Could  an  underling  in  a  Court  do  otherwise 
than  Pisanio  did  ?  Is  this  whole  episode  of  Cloten's  going 
to  seek  Imogen  in  her  husband's  garments  a  weak  part  in 
the  Play?  Is  it  necessary  to  bring  Cloten  to  his  death? 
Is  it  a  concession  to  the  taste  of  the  day  that  craved  some 
clownish  and  brutal  fooling?  Belarius's  stealing  the 
King's  children,  "Thinking  to  bar  him  of  succession"  be- 
cause the  King  had  seized  his  lands  is  spoken  of  as  a  mat- 


38  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

ter  of  course.  How  would  it  be  looked  on  now?  Did 
Shakespeare  borrow  this  from  Holinshed  ?  It  enabled  him 
to  make  a  contrast  between  town  and  country  life  and  to 
show  the  aspiration  for  knowledge  and  experience  stirring 
in  the  minds  of  the  young  princes.  What  else?  Is  the 
worship  of  the  sun  Shakespeare  makes  Arviragus  and 
Guiderius  observe  true  to  the  customs  of  early  Britons  ? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Is  it  consistent  with  a  noble 
character,  such  as  we  are  led  to  think  Posthumus  had,  to 
send  a  letter  of  affection  to  his  wife  the  object  of  which 
is  to  decoy  her  to  her  death?  Is  the  episode  of  Cloten's 
quest  of  Imogen  a  good  way  to  get  rid  of  him  and  in 
character  ? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  IV 

Topic. — Cloten  and  the  Queen  Foiled. 

Hints: — In  Act  IV.  good  influences  gain  the  ascen- 
dency. Cloten  gets  his  just  deserts  at  the  hands  of  Imo- 
gen's natural  protectors, — her  brothers, — but  not  in  any 
such  clumsy  fashion  as  in  directly  protecting  her  from 
assault  by  him.  It  is  brought  about  naturally  through  the 
innate  badness  of  Cloten,  whose  character  is  so  mean  that 
it  could  not  fail  to  range  the  nobility  of  the  brothers  in 
opposition  to  it  whenever  they  should  come  in  contact.  Do 
these  two  brothers  have  anywhere  a  direct  influence  on  the 
development  of  the  plot  ?  In  this  Act  are  they  unconscious 
agents  of  good?  Note  the  immediate  affection  felt  by 
the  brothers  for  Imogen  indicating  their  relationship.  Is 
it  more  natural  to  suppose  this  immediate  affection  the 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CYMBELINE        39 

result  of  blood-ties,  as  Shakespeare  seems  to  think  (IV.  ii. 
36-37)»  or  is  it  simply  the  recognition  by  one  fine  nature 
of  another?  Trace  through  the  Acts  all  mention  of  the 
Queen's  box  of  poison.  Does  the  Queen  mean  to  poison 
Imogen?  See  what  Cornelius  says  in  Act  V.  about  this. 
Act  IV.  is  remarkable  for  its  variety  of  action.  The  war- 
like and  gentle  aspects  of  the  brothers  are  shown  in  con- 
trast. After  the  savage  scene  of  the  killing  of  Cloten, 
comes  the  sad  poetic  scene  of  Fidele's  burial.  Is  its 
beauty  marred  by  the  bringing  in  of  Cloten  again,  or  does 
it  serve  only  to  enhance  the  brothers'  noble  qualities?  Imo- 
gen awakens  then,  a  little  beside  herself  from  the  effects 
of  the  sleeping  potion.  Does  this  explain  her  mistaking 
Cloten  for  Posthumus?  The  next  scene  then  introduces 
the  Roman  soldiery,  and  Imogen  enters  the  service  of 
Lucius,  which  she  had  really  set  out  to  do,  but  in  the  mean 
time  her  cause  for  doing  so,  as  far  as  she  knows,  has  been 
removed,  for  she  thinks  Posthumus  dead.  This  being  so, 
why  should  she  not  have  returned  to  her  cave-dwellers?  Is 
Imogen  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  circumstances?  Does  she 
ever  initiate  any  of  the  steps  in  her  career?  In  IV.  iii.  the 
effect  on  the  Queen  of  Cloten's  disappearance  is  shown. 
Cymbeline  is  at  a  loss  how  to  act  with  the  Queen  and  her 
son  both  away.  He  has  fallen  so  low  as  to  be  completely 
under  their  control,  and  incapable  of  doing  anything  on 
his  own  responsibility.  The  contrast  between  his  puerility 
and  the  determination  of  his  sons  to  risk  all  and  join  the 
army,  in  the  next  Scene,  is  marked.  Belarius  thinks  it 
their  princely  blood  asserting  itself;  but  did  they  inherit 
their  promptness  to  action  from  their  father? — Perhaps 


40  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

from  their  mother? — Or  is  the  idea  conventional  rather 
than  true? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Does  Imogen's  mistaking  of 
Cloten  and  Posthumus  place  her  in  a  light  unworthy  of 
her  purity  and  dignity?  Does  not  every  one  revolt  at  the 
idea  of  her  embracing  the  dead  body  of  the  man  she 
loathed?  Does  the  action  of  the  scene  gain  anything  by 
it?  Is  it  a  blot  on  the  beauty  of  the  play?  Is  it  merely 
repugnant  ?  Or  is  it  a  daringly  significant  stroke  of  irony 
in  Art,  when  considered  as  embodying  an  enaction  of 
Imogen's  words  (II.  iii.  151-155)  so  insulting  to  Cloten 
and  arousing  him  to  an  impotent  revenge.  (See  the  In- 
troduction to  the  First  Folio  Edition  of  this  Play). 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  V. 

Topic.— The  Triumph  of  Good  Influences. 

Hints: — In  the  story  of  Act  V  the  denouement  of  the 
play  is  given.  First,  Posthumus's  contrition  and  desperate 
desire  for  death  is  shown ;  then  the  battle,  which  is  the  oc- 
casion for  the  bravery  with  which  the  King's  lost  sons 
and  their  foster-father,  and  Posthumus,  above  all  others, 
distinguish  themselves;  then  the  strange  dream  is  ex- 
plained, and  the  oracular  message  and  all  the  various 
threads  of  incident  are  knit  into  one.  Show  how 
all  this  takes  place,  and  how  Imogen  is  the  central  means 
of  reconciliation.  What  of  the  philosophy  of  the  scene  of 
Posthumus  with  the  gaoler?  What  do  you  think  of 
Posthumus's  forgiving  Imogen  and  of  his  repentance  for 
blaming  and  punishing  her?  Notice  the  nature  of  his 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CYMBELINE        41 

prayer  to  the  gods  in  V.  iv.  The  vision  that  follows  this 
prayer  has  been  called  not  Shakespeare's  by  various  edi- 
tors and  critics,  but  what  plea  can  you  make  for  it?  Is 
it  in  any  respect  necessary  to  the  plot  ?  Are  there  similar 
scenes  in  other  late  Plays  of  Shakespeare?  (See  'The 
Tempest,' — the  mask  of  Hymen;  'Winter's  Tale,' — the 
mask-like  "interlude"  of  Time  and  the  dance  of  Satyrs; 
Is  there  a  likelihood  that  these  were  concessions  on  Shake- 
speare's part  to  the  tastes  of  the  Court  where  he  had  be- 
come popular? 

Do  you  think  the  King's  weakness  honorable  to  him  in 
so  far  as  it  is  founded  on  his  genuine  love  for  the  Queen? 
Notice  his  trust  in  her  as  shown  in  V.  v.  Possibly  Imo- 
gen's loyalty  is  an  inherited  trait.  Why  should  it  be  con- 
sidered a  defect  in  the  King  anci  a  merit  in  her? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — What  part,  if  any,  does  the 
dream  of  Posthumus  play  in  the  action?  Is  there  any 
way  of  explaining  the  fact  that  Cymbeline  and  Posthumus 
the  father  and  husband  of  Imogen,  did  not  recognize  her 
tintil  Pisanio — the  servant — told  them  who  she  was? 

VI.  LITERARY  AND  ESTHETIC  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Topic.— The  Sources  of  the  Plot. 

Hints: — In  'Cymbeline,'  two  sources  have  been  drawn 
upon,  Holinshed,  from  whom  Shakespeare  took  the  names 
of  Cymbeline  and  his  two  sons,  and  a  few  historical  hints 
in  regard  to  the  relations  existing  between  Rome  and  Bri- 
tain ;  and  the  'Decameron'  of  Boccaccio,  in  which  a  story, 
like  that  of  the  wager  and  Imogen,  forms  the  ninth  novel 


42  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

of  the  second  day.  The  chief  incidents  of  the  story  are 
also  to  be  found  in  a  French  miracle-play  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  also  in  the  old  French  romances, — 'Le  Roman 
de  la  Violette,'  and  'Le  Roman  du  Comte  de  Poitiers.' 
(See  Sources  in  First  Folio  Edition).  The  lachimo  of 
the  miracle-play,  Beringier,  says  to  Ostes,  the  Posthumus 
of  that  play,  when  proposing  to  wager: — "I  tell  you  truly 
that  I  boast  that  I  know  no  woman  living,  but  if  I  might 
speak  to  her  twice,  at  the  third  time  I  might  have  all  my 
desire."  Compare  with  lachimo's  saying,  I.  v.  Again, 
in  the  French  play,  Berengier,  trying  to  work  on  the  jeal- 
ousy of  Denise,  tells  her,  "I  come  from  Rome,  where  I 
left  your  lord,  who  does  not  value  you  the  stalk  of  a 
cherry;  he  is  connected  with  a  girl  for  whom  he  has  so 
strong  a  regard  that  he  knows  not  how  to  part  from  her." 
Compare  with  lachimo's  report  of  Posthumus.  No  cor- 
responding inducement  is  to  be  met  with  in  the  Italian 
novel.  Show  in  'Cymbeline,'  the  incidents  occurring  in 
the  Sources  which  Shakespeare  left  unchanged. 

Topic. — The  Changes  and  Original  Additions  made  by 
Shakespeare. 

Hints: — From  the  meagre  account  in  Holinshed,  Shake- 
speare has  developed  a  stirring  historical  background  for 
the  play.  Note  that  Holinshed  says  that  although  our  his- 
tories affirm  that  both  Cymbeline  and  his  father  Theo- 
mantius  lived  at  peace  with  the  Romans  and  continued  to 
pay  tribute  to  them  as  agreed,  the  Roman  writers  declare 
that  after  Caesar's  death  the  Britons  refused  to  do  so. 
Shakespeare  seizes  the  latter  alternative  as  being  the  more 
dramatic  and  better  suited  to  the  development  of  his  plot. 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  CYMBELINE        43 

Note  that  from  being  a  historical  peg  merely,  Shakespeare 
converts  Cymbeline  into  a  genuine  man  with  complex  rela- 
tions with  the  world,  and  having  not  only  his  Roman  af- 
fairs to  look  after  but  complicated  domestic  relations  with 
three  children,  a  second  wife,  and  stepson.  Having  placed 
him  amid  this  family  group,  it  is  necessary  to  individual- 
ize each.  His  daughter  he  fashions  after  an  Italian  model, 
and  so  introduces  a  new  set  of  relations  for  her.  The 
Queen  he  naturally  makes  ambitious  for  her  son,  as  heir, 
etc.,  and  the  King's  sons  he  arranges  to  have  stolen  away 
and  grow  up  in  the  country,  introducing  thus  the  pleas- 
ant contrast  of  court  and  outdoor  life.  Note  that  in  Boc- 
caccio the  villain  is  admitted  to  the  lady's  chamber  by  a 
faithless  woman-servant  (this  is  the  case  with  all  the  other 
versions,  too),  but  Shakespeare  does  not  involve  any  ser- 
vant in  the  scheme  of  lachimo.  He  seems  to  wish  to  give 
the  impression  that  no  one  about  Imogen  could  be  guilty 
of  harming  her.  This  is  also  shown  more  fully  by  the  fact 
that  Pisanio  never  has  the  least  intention  of  carrying  out 
the  command  of  his  master  to  kill  her,  while  in  Boccaccio 
the  servant  only  desists  on  the  lady's  entreaties.  Note,  also, 
that  while  Imogen  begs  Pisanio  to  kill  her,  the  lady  in  the 
Italian  novel  begs  for  life.  Which  would  be  the  most 
praiseworthy  action  from  an  ideal  point  of  view,  and  which 
seems  the  finer  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  times? 

Do  all  the  changes  introduced  by  Shakespeare  in  the  plot 
borrowed  from  Boccaccio  tend  to  the  softening  and  hu- 
manizing of  the  characters?  Do  they  make  the  love  of 
Imogen  and  Posthumus  more  ideal,  and  themselves  more 
real? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET 
THE  STORY  OF  ACT  I 

Topic. — For  Paper,  Classwork  or  Private  Study : — The 
Threefold  Plot. 

Hints : — Hamlet  is  informed  by  his  father's  ghost  of  the 
crime  of  his  Uncle  and  the  fault  of  his  Mother.  The 
King  tries  to  strengthen  his  position  in  the  Kingdom. 
Polonius  and  Laertes  interfere  between  the  love  of  Ham- 
let and  Ophelia.  Notice  that  the  belief  in  ghosts  is  not 
so  absolute  that  doubts  are  not  expressed  in  regard  to  it. 
In  what  different  ways  are  these  doubts  expressed?  And 
how  are  they  all  finally  satisfied?  (See  Act  III).  Can 
there  be  any  explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  ghost  is  an 
objective  phantasm  in  the  first  Act  seen  by  several  people, 
while  in  the  third  Act  it  is  more  like  an  hallucination,  for 
though  Hamlet  sees  it,  his  mother  does  not? 

In  what  ways  do  both  the  King  and  Queen  show  that 
they  secretly  feel  the  need  of  strengthening  their  position 
as  much  as  possible  ?  Observe  how  concerned  they  are  that 
Hamlet  still  continues  to  grieve  for  his  father  and  how 
they  try  to  argue  him  out  of  it  Notice  how  the  King 
as  well  as  ingratiating  Hamlet  and  Laertes  arranges  to 
secure  peace  in  outside  affairs  also.  Does  there  seem  to 
have  been  the  slightest  suspicion  in  any  ones  mind  that 
he  had  murdered  the  former  King  before  the  Ghost  an- 
nounces it  to  Hamlet?  Did  Hamlet  himself  suspect  it? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  45 

Was  the  advice  of  Laertes  and  Polonius  to  Ophelia  good 
advice?  Did  it  show  penetration  on  their  part  to  warn 
Ophelia  lest  Hamlet  should  be  insincere?  Were  the  mo- 
tives of  Laertes  sincere?  Was  Polonius  simply  trimming 
because  he  was  not  sure  what  the  final  attitude  of  the 
King  might  be  toward  Hamlet?  Observe  that  Hamlet 
warns  Horatio  that  he  may  see  fit  to  put  on  an  "Anticke 
disposition."  (I.  v.  188).  Can  you  conjecture  at  this 
stage  of  the  play  any  reason  why  he  should  adopt  the 
course  of  pretending  madness? 

Query  for  Discussion: — The  ghost  calls  for  revenge, 
but  specifies  no  particular  mode  of  revenge.  Hamlet  nat- 
urally supposes  the  meaning  to  be  payment  in  kind, — 'an 
eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.'  Is  this  from  Ham- 
let's own  moral  point  of  view  right  ? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  II 

Topic. — Hamlet's  "Anticke  Disposition"  and  its  Con- 
sequences. 

Hints: — Has  the  opening  of  the  first  scene  in  this  Act 
any  part  to  play  in  the  development  of  the  action,  or  is  it 
merely  for  the  sake  of  showing  up  the  character  of  Polo- 
nius. From  Ophelia's  account  of  Hamlet's  visit  to  her 
would  you  gather  that  he  was  merely  playing  at  madness 
in  order  to  have  that  report  spread  in  regard  to  him,  or 
should  you  think  that  his  faith  in  womanhood  had  been 
so  shattered  by  his  mother's  actions  that  his  suspicions  as 
to  Ophelia's  sincerity  had  been  awakened  ?  Do  you  think 
he  was  aware  that  Ophelia's  change  of  manner  toward 


46  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

him  was  the  result  of  influences  brought  to  bear  upon  her  ? 
Whatever  may  have  been  Hamlet's  intentions  in  acting 
this  way  toward  Ophelia,  what  use  does  Polonius  make 
of  it?  Is  the  King's  concern  over  Hamlet's  transforma- 
tion, as  he  calls  it,  an  expression  of  sympathy  for  Ham- 
let or  an  expression  of  .fear  for  the  safety  of  his  own 
position?  How  does  the  King's  policy  in  this  Act  bring 
about  a  strengthening  of  his  position  ?  Does  it  seem,  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  this  Act,  as  if  Hamlet  were,  by  his  insane 
way  of  acting  fairly  playing  into  the  King's  hands?  Do 
you  think  the  King  and  Queen  really  believe  him  insane, 
or  have  they  caught  at  the  idea  as  a  means  of  getting  rid 
of  Hamlet?  Does  Hamlet  gain  as  much  as  he  loses  by 
pretending  madness?  By  this  means  he  is  able  cleverly  to 
"size"  up  all  the  people  in  the  court,  especially  the  King 
and  prove  wholly  to  his  own  satisfaction  what  a  perfidious 
wretch  he  is;  on  the  other  hand  he  is  working  for  his 
own  destruction.  As  his  purpose  is  to  kill  the  King,  as 
soon  as  a  favorable  opportunity  arises,  would  this  make 
any  difference  to  him?  If  the  King  had  really  believed 
Hamlet  mad  would  he  have  taken  the  course  he  did  to 
get  rid  of  him?  In  that  case  Hamlet's  only  safety  lay  in 
making  the  King  believe  he  really  was  mad.  Was  it  wise 
in  him  to  let  Rosencrantz  and  Guildenstern  into  the  secret 
by  telling  them  that  his  Uncle  Father  and  Aunt  Mother 
are  deceived,  that  he  is  "but  mad  North,  North-West: 
when  the  Winde  is  Southerly,  I  know  a  Hawke  from  a 
Handsaw"  (See  II.  ii.  405-409)  ?  Do  they  make  any  use 
of  this  knowledge  when  reporting  to  the  King  their  en- 
counter with  Hamlet  (III.  i.)?  Is  the  scene  with  the 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  47 

pliyers  longer  than  it  need  be  for  the  purposes  of  the 
action  ?  Is  it  useful,  however,  like  the  opening  scene  with 
Polonius  in  throwing  light  upon  some  aspects  of  Ham- 
let's character?  If  this  is  so,  what  are  they?  and  what 
mood  is  induced  in  him  by  listening  to  the  recitations  of 
the  players?  Is  he  altogether  just  to  himself  in  this 
speech?  How  does  he  intend  to  use  the  players  in  the 
furtherance  of  his  designs  upon  the  King?  Is  he  to  be 
commended  for  awaiting  confirmation  of  the  Ghost's  story 
before  taking  his  revenge? 

Query  for  Discussion : — Does  Hamlet  expect  to  find  an 
opportunity  to  carry  into  effect  his  purpose  against  the 
King  during  the  acting  of  the  play,  should  he  be  con- 
vinced by  it  of  his  guilt? 

STORY  OF  ACT  III. 

Topic. — The  King  brought  to  Bay. 

Hints: — In  this  Act  Hamlet's  movements  against  the 
King,  and  the  King's  movements  against  Hamlet  finally 
clash.  Is  the  account  Rosencrantz  and  Guildenstern  give 
of  their  interview  with  Hamlet  trustworthy  or  do  they 
try  to  tell  the  King  what  they  know  he  wants  to  hear? 
Does  the  talk  of  Hamlet  to  Ophelia  in  this  act  impress 
you  as  being  purposely  intended  to  make  her  think  him 
insane,  or  rather  as  that  of  a  man  in  a  wholly  disillusion- 
ized mood,  who,  for  the  time  being,  feels  that  his  emo- 
tions are  snuffed  out?  The  effect  it  makes  upon  Ophelia, 
who  has  been  told  he  is  mad,  is  that  he  has  verily  lost  his 
wits.  Besides,  she  knows  no  reason  for  the  change  in  his 


48  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

attitude  toward  her,  and  if  she  did,  would  not  understand 
how  the  complete  shattering  of  Hamlet's  ideals — his  ideals 
for  his  mother  and  for  all,  of  loyalty  and  loftiness  in  love, 
and  his  horror  at  his  uncle's  crime,  would,  for  the  time 
being,  at  least,  completely  benumb  his  emotional  nature. 
Upon  the  King,  who  knows  there  is  good  reason  for  such 
a  mood,  and  who  evidently  fears  Hamlet  may  be  cognizant 
of  the  truth,  the  interview  has  a  very  different  effect.  His 
conclusion  is  that  what  Hamlet  said  was  not  like  madness. 
He  thinks  there  is  something  on  Hamlet's  mind,  and  fears 
he  may  be  contemplating  some  action  which  will  affect  the 
royal  safety. —  (See  III.  i.  174  et  seq.)  If  Hamlet  had 
known  the  King  and  Polonius  were  listening,  do  you  think 
he  would  have  talked  differently  to  Ophelia.  Polonius  still 
thinks  that  all  that  is  the  matter  with  Hamlet  is  neglected 
Love.  Is  he  anxious  now,  that  a  match  may  be  made  be- 
tween Hamlet  and  Ophelia?  If  so,  why  has  he  changed? 

Observe  in  the  scene  in  which  the  play  is  prepared  the 
lights  that  are  thrown  upon  Hamlet's  character:  his  inter- 
est in  acting,  his  attitude  toward  his  friend  Horatio,  his 
plans  to  have  the  play  confirm  the  guilt  of  his  uncle,  etc. 

Does  Hamlet  consistently  act  the  part  of  a  mad-man 
during  the  progress  of  the  play?  Notice  all  his  remarks, 
and  show  whether  they  are  calculated  to  confirm  the 
King  in  his  fear  that  Hamlet  knows  too  much,  or  wheth- 
er they  would  simply  be  added  proof  in  the  King's  mind 
of  his  madness.  Contrast  his  manner  toward  Horatio 
with  that  toward  Guildenstern  and  Rozencranz.  Was 
the  King's  loss  of  control  wise?  Should  you  not  think 
that  every  one's  suspicions  would  be  aroused  by  it?  Ros- 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  49 

encranz,  Guildenstern,  and  Polonius  either  do  not  com- 
prehend the  situation  or  are  too  much  creatures  of  the 
King  to  be  affected  by  it.  The  King  acts  immediately 
and  arranges  for  Hamlet's  deportation  to  England,  mak- 
ing the  most  of  the  supposition  that  Hamlet  is  mad.  On 
the  other  hand  Hamlet  hp6  a  good  chance  to  kill  the 
King,  and  does  not  take/ft.  Do  you  think  his  reasons  for 
not  taking  this  favorable  opportunity  jgpod  ?  What  light 
does  Hamlet's  interview  wifn  his  rh'other  throw  upon  his 
mental  state  ?  What  use  ^joes  his  mother  make  of  this 
interview  ?  \ 

Query  for  Discussion : — Was, the  scheme  of  catching  the 
consciences  of  the  King  and^ueen  by  means  of  the  play 
altogether  a  wise  one  sinc<<  it  fully  arouses  their  sus- 
picions that  Hamlet  knpws'of  thejr  guilt  ?x  /Would  Ham- 
let  care  whether  it  tyas  wise  or  not?  ^ 

Sr  •''     -.,     t 

STORY  OF  ACT  IV         A 

>'i 

Topic. — The  Dead  Pqlonius.  + 

Hints: — Show  how  thejdeath  of  Polonius  affects  the  ac- 
tion in  this  Act.  The  departure  0f"Hamlet  for  England  is* 
hastened,  and  the  King  decides  u^pn  stronger  measures 
with  regard  to  him.  Note  in  what  way  all  this  is  done. 
How  is  Hamlet  affected  by  the  delay  in  his  revenge  ?  Whafc' 
is  the  effect  upon  Ophelia  of  her  -father's^  death  ?  The 
effect  upon  Laertes?  What  determined  action  is  taken  by 
Hamlet,  and  how  do  the  King  and  Laertes  arrange^  to 
meet  it?  Observe  how  all  the  lines' of  the  ^ragetTy^  are 
intensified  during  the  progress  of  this  Act,  encling  finally 


50  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

with  the  death  of  Ophelia,  and  with  the  death  of  Hamlet 
so  predetermined  that  there  can  be  no  possibility  of  his 
escape  this  time.  Contrast  the  causes  of  Hamlet's  delay  in 
compassing  the  King's  death  with  the  causes  that  debar  the 
King.  Observe  in  each  case  whether  these  are  partly  due 
to  their  natures  and  partly  due  to  external  interference. 

Query  for  Discussion : — Do  the  delays  in  this  Act  seem 
like  artificial  means  for  developing  the  plot,  or  are  they 
just  such  things  as  occur  in  life,  in  the  clash  of  indi- 
vidual natures  with  conditions? 

STORY  OF  ACT  V 

Topic. — The  Final  Clash  of  Treachery  and  Righteous 
Wrath. 

Hints: — Does  the  meeting  at  the  grave  of  Ophelia 
throw  any  further  light  upon  Hamlet's  attitude  toward 
Ophelia?  Does  he  seem  here  to  fall  into  wild  speech  in 
order  to  cover  his  genuine  agitation  at  the  death  of 
Ophelia,  his  genuine  feeling  revealing  that  his  love  for 
Ophelia  had  been  deeper  and  truer  than  that  of  which 
any  of  the  others  were  capable?  Or  was  his  rage  at 
Laertes  partly  caused  by  the  fact  that  his  conscience  stung 
him  on  account  of  his  treatment  of  Ophelia?  How  did 
Hamlet  counteract  the  plot  of  the  King  to  have  him 
killed  in  England?  Does  Hamlet  go  to  the  fencing  match 
with  Laertes  fully  conscious  that  it  is  only  another  scheme 
to  bring  about  his  death  ?  He  speaks  about  a  misgiving  in 
his  heart  (V.  ii.  167).  Is  he  thinking  of  his  own  death 
or  the  deed  he  is  about  to  do  in  killing  the  King?  Is  he 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  51 

afraid  that  he  may  fail  to  accomplish  his  purpose?  Ob- 
serve he  would  not  drink  the  refreshing  cup  offered  him 
by  the  King,  why?  Is  it  probable  he  suspected  Laertes' 
dagger  was  poisoned,  and  in  the  scuffle  made  a  point  of 
getting  it  from  Laertes?  Can  it  be  said  that  either  good  v 
or  evil  triumph  in  this  play?  The  King  at  last  realizes 
his  desires  in  the  killing  of  Hamlet  by  the  underhanded 
means  with  which  he  always  worked.  On  the  other  hand 
Hamlet,  at  last  wreaks  his  vengeance  on  the  King.  If  he 
had  done  this  in  the  first  place  all  the  other  deaths  would 
have  been  prevented.  But  it  is  as  useless  to  talk  about 
what  might  have  been  as  it  would  be  in  life,  for  given 
these  two  natures  at  war  with  each  other,  one  trying  to 
seek  treacherous  means  for  the  destruction  of  the  other, 
some  method  which  will  not  subject  him  to  popular  criti- 
cism; the  other  bent  upon  public  vengeance,  yet  either 
temperamentally  unfitted  for  the  task,  or  so  handicapped 
that  he  must  stealthily  seek  his  chance  and  await  the  ac- 
tion, the  psychological  moment  could  not  be  otherwise 
than  it  is.  The  right  moment  does  not  arrive  for  Ham- 
let until  his  passion  is  set  on  fire  by  coming  face  to  face, 
with  the  perfidy  of  the  King.  Would  it  have  been  pos- 
sible to  such  a  nature  as  Hamlet's  to  lay  a  plan  and  kill 
the  King  in  cold  blood  ?  Observe_±haLjeyery.  time  he  acts  \ 
it  is  under  stress  of  immediate  provocation.  Her  substi- 
tutes instructions  for  the  death  of  Guildenstern  wfien"Hr 
reads  dispatches  arranging  his  own  death.  He  kills  Po- 
lonius  when  he  finds  himself  spied  upon,  thinking  it  is  the 
King;  he  declares  his  love  for  Ophelia  when  stung  to  it 
by  jealousy  of  Laertes'  brotherly  love;  he  kills  the  King 


52  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

when  he  finds  he  has  tried  to  poison  him. 

Query  for  Discussion: — Whatever  the  impressions  re- 
ceived from  the  play  of  "Hamlet"  all  betray  the  presence 
in  the  character  of  Hamlet  of  a  combination  of  fierceness 
and  subtlety.  (See  Introduction  to  "Hamlet,"  First  Folio 

Shakespeare). 

i 

THE  SOURCES  OF  THE  PLAY 

Topic. — Shakespeare's  Use  of  His  Material. 

Hints : — Give  an  account  of  the  incidents  in  Belief orest 
used  by  the  Poet,  and  point  out  his  additions  and  differ- 
entiations from  his  source,  and  show  in  what  ways  his 
treatment  has  strengthened  the  dramatic  and  character 
interest  of  the  play.  (The  First  Folio  "Hamlet"  gives 
under  Sources  all  the  incidents  used  by  Shakespeare.  The 
translation  from  Belleforest  into  English,  "The  Hystorie  of 
Hamlet,"  may  be  found  complete  in  the  Furness  Variorum 
Shakespeare. ) 

PUBLISHING  OF  THE  PLAY 

Topic. — Relation  of  the  Date  to  the  Early  Editions. 

Hints : — How  is  the  date  of  the  play  ascertained  ?  Is  the 
date  assigned  to  the  play  less  or  more  authentic  than  that 
of  other  plays?  How  long  was  it  written  before  it  was 
published?  How  many  early  Quartos  were  there,  and 
what  are  their  points  of  difference?  What  great  differ- 
ences are  there  between  the  Quartos  and  the  First  Folio? 
(See  in  First  Folio  Shakespeare,  Date  of  Composition, 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  53 

Early    Editions,    Variorum    Readings,    and    additions   in 
brackets  to  the  text  from  the  Quartos). 

CHARACTER  STUDIES 

1.  Topic. — Hamlet  and  his  Critics. 

Hints : — Give  first  as  derived  from  the  study  of  the  Play 
so  far,  your  own  opinion  as  to  the  sanity  of  Hamlet,  ex- 
plaining your  reasons.  Upon  the  question  is  Hamlet's 
Insanity  real  or  feigned,  many  opinions  have  been  ex- 
pressed, among  them  the  following:  Drake  (1817) 
wrote:  "Hamlet  occasionally  suffers  the  poignancy  of  his 
feelings  and  the  agitation  of  his  mind  to  break  in  upon  his 
plan,  when,  heedless  of  what  was  to  be  the  ostensible  foun- 
dation of  his  derangement,  his  love  for  Ophelia,  he  per- 
mits his  indignation  to  point,  and  upon  one  occasion  almost 
unmasked,  toward  the  guilt  of  his  uncle.  In  every  other 
instance  he  personates  insanity  with  a  skill  which  indicates 
the  highest  order  of  genius,  and  imposes  upon  all  but  the 
King,  whose  conscience,  perpetually  on  the  watch,  soon 
enables  him  to  detect  the  inconsistencies  and  the  drift  of 
his  nephew." 

George  Farren  (1829) :  "It  is  not  maintained  in  this 
essay  that  Hamlet  was  uniformly  deranged,  or  that  his 
malady  disqualified  him  altogether  for  the  exercise  of  his 
reason,  but  that  he  was  liable  to  paroxysms  of  mental  dis- 
order. .  .  All  Hamlet's  words  and  actions  before  he 
resolves  to  feign  insanity  may  be  considered  as  those  of  a 
free  agent,  and  it  is  by  these  that  we  are  to  decide  whether 
or  not  he  has  from  the  start  a  perfectly  healthy  mind. 


54  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

Now,  before  he  had  any  suspicion  of  his  father's  murder, 
and  of  course  before  he  intends  to  feign  insanity,  we  find 
him  deliberating  on  suicide,  and  intolerant  of  life — sure 
indications  of  mental  disease.  Whenever  Hamlet  is  alone 
the  true  state  of  his  mind  reveals  itself  in  melancholy 
soliloquies."  Isn't  the  assumption  of  the  role  of  a  mad- 
man, the  writer  asks,  under  the  circumstances,  a  clear  act 
of  insanity?  So  far  from  aiding  his  design,  it  was  the 
very  way  to  thwart  it,  as,  in  fact,  it  did. 

Blackwoods  (1839):  "One  very  manifest  purpose  of 
adopting  the  disguise  of  feigned  madness  was  to  obtain 
access  to  the  King  in  some  moment  of  unguarded  privacy. 
.  .  .  The  rambling  of  a  maniac  over  all  parts  of  the 
palace,  and  at  all  hours,  would  excite  no  suspicion;  and 
thus  an  opportunity  might  be  afforded  of  striking  the  fatal 
blow.  .  .  .  The  mimic  cry  of  madness  was  but  the 
excess  of  that  levity  and  wildness  which  naturally  sprang 
from  his  impatient  and  overwrought  spirit.  It  afforded 
some  scope  to  those  disquieted  feelings  which  it  served  to 
conceal.  The  feint  of  madness  covered  all, — even  the 
sarcasm,  and  disgust,  and  turbulence,  which  it  freed  in 
some  measure  from  an  intolerable  restraint." 

W.  W.  Lloyd  (1856):  "Whatever  energy  in  action, 
therefore,  is  manifested  by  Hamlet  is  in  the  form  of  pas- 
sionate outburst,  or  reply  to  sudden  provocation,  or  the 
impulse  of  the  moment,  and  his  liability  to  such  accesses 
of  excitement  appears  to  have  been  increased  by  the  ex- 
citement of  the  apparition, — itself,  from  another  point  of 
view  a  consequence  of  the  excitability,  till  it  carries  his 
mind  over  the  balance  that  gives  fair  claims  to  sane  com- 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  55 


posure." 


Dr.  Buckwill  (1859):  "This  conduct  to  Ophelia  is  a 
mixture  of  feigned  madness,  of  the  selfishness  of  passion 
blasted  by  the  cursed  blight  of  fate,  of  harshness  which  he 
Assumes  to  protect  himself  from  an  affection  which  he 
feels  hostile  to  the  present  purpose  of  his  life,  and  of  that 
degree  of  real  unsoundness,  his  unfeigned  'weakness  and 
melancholy,'  which  is  the  subsoil  of  his  mind.  .  .  . 
Hamlet  is  not  slow  to  confess  his  melancholy,  and  indeed 
it  is  the  peculiarity  of  this  mental  state,  that  those  suffer- 
ing from  it  seldom  or  never  attempt  to  conceal  it.  A 
man  will  conceal  his  delusions,  will  deny  and  veil  the  ex- 
citement of  mania,  but  the  melancholiac  is  almost  always 
readily  confidential  on  the  subject  of  his  feelings.  When 
the  crisis  has  come,  and  the  King's  guilt  has  been  unken- 
nelled and  Hamlet  is  again  left  alone  with  Horatio,  be- 
fore whom  he  would  not  feign,  his  real  excitement  borders 
so  closely  upon  the  wildest  antics  of  the  madness  he  has 
put  on  in  craft,  that  there  is  little  left  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  two." 

Dr.  Conolly  (1863) :  "It  certainly  appears  to  me  that 
the  intention  to  feign  was  soon  forgotten,  or  could  not 
steadily  be  maintained,  in  consequence  of  a  real  mental 
infirmity;  that  it  subsequently  recurred  to  Hamlet's 
thoughts  only  in  circumstances  not  productive  of  much 
emotion,  but  became  quite  unthought  of  in  every  scene  in 
which  his  feelings  were  strongly  acted  upon,  and  that  in 
such  scenes  a  real  and  lamentable  mental  disorder  swept 
all  trivial  considerations  away." 

Dr.  Kellogg  (1860)  :    "After  the  disappearance  of  the 


56  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

Ghost,  the  first  words  Hamlet  utters  give  the  clew  to  his 
mental  and  physical  state,  and  it  is  quite  evident  that  the 
cord,  which  has  been  stretched  to  its  utmost  tension,  here 
snaps  suddenly,  and  the  consequences  are  immediately  ap- 
parent, and  are  evinced  throughout  his  whole  subsequent 
career.  Here  enters  the  pathological  element  into  his 
mind  and  disposition,  and  the  working  of  the  leaven  of 
disease  is  soon  apparent,  for  it  changes  completely  and  for- 
ever his  whole  character.  Up  to  this  time  we  see  no  weak- 
ness, no  vacillation,  no  want  of  energy,  no  infirmity  of  pur- 
pose. After  this,  all  these  characteristics  are  irrevocably 
lost,  and  though  some  faculties  of  his  great  spirit  seem  com- 
paratively untouched,  others  are  completely  paralyzed." 

Richard  Grant  White  (1870)  :  "In  the  consideration  of 
Hamlet's  case  nothing  should  be  kept  more  clearly  in 
mind  than  that  from  the  time  we  hear  of  him  until  his 
death  he  was  perfectly  sane,  andT'man  ?rf>4iery  clear  and 
quick  intellectual  perceptions^  one  perfectly  responsible  for 
his  every  act  and  every  word;  that  is,  as  responsible  as  a 
man  can  be  who  is  constitutionally  irresolute,  purposeless 
and  procrastinating.  They  have  done  him  wrong  who 
have  called  him  undecided.  His  penetration  was  like  light; 
his  decision  like  the  Fates,  he  merely  left  undone." 

James  Russell  Lowell  (1870) :  "The  question  of  Ham- 
let's madness  has  been  much  discussed  and  variously  de- 
cided. High  medical  authority  has  pronounced,  as  usual, 
on  both  sides  of  the  question.  But  the  induction  has  been 
drawn  from  too  narrow  premises,  being  based  on  a  mere 
diagnosis  of  the  case,  and  not  on  the  appreciation  of  the 
character  in  its  completeness.  .  .  Hamlet,  among  all 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  57 

the  characters  of  Shakespeare  is  the  most  eminently  a 
meta-physician  and  psychologist.  He  is  a  close  observer, 
continually  analyzing  his  own  nature  and  that  of  others, 
letting  fall  his  little  drops  of  acid  irony  on  all  who  come 
near  him,  to  make  them  show  what  they  are  made  of. 
Even  Ophelia  is  not  too  sacred,  Osric  not  too  contempti- 
ble for  experiment.  If  such  a  man  assumed  madness,  he 
would  play  his  part  perfectly.  If  Shakespeare,  himself, 
without  going  mad,  could  so  observe  and  remember  all 
the  abnormal  symptoms  as  to  be  able  to  reproduce  them 
in  Hamlet,  why  should  it  be  beyond  the  power  of  Hamlet 
to  reproduce  them  in  himself?  If  you  deprive  Hamlet 
of  reason,  there  is  no  truly  tragic  motive  left.  He  would 
be  a  fit  subject  for  Bedlam,  but  not  for  the  stage.  We 
might  have  pathology  enough  but  no  pathos.  Ajax  first 
becomes  tragic  when  he  recovers  his  wits.  If  Hamlet  is 
irresponsible  the  whole  play  is  a  chaos.  That  he  is  not 
so  might  be  proved  by  evidence  enough  were  it  not  labor 
thrown  away." 

Dr.  Omnius  (1876):  "There  are  children  who  are 
born  musicians,  whom  a  single  false  note  irritates:  from 
their  earliest  year  they  have  the  sense  of  harmony,  not  a 
discord  escapes  them,  and  they  cannot  comprehend  how 
there  should  be  others  differently  organized,  in  whom  the 
sense  of  harmony  is  wanting.  Others  again  are  born  with 
an  exquisite  sense  of  color  and  form,  and  everything  at 
variance  with  their  art  wounds  and  repels  them.  Ham- 
let is  one  of  these  artistic  natures.  He  is  an  artist  of  the 
moral  sense.  Born  with  a  feeling  the  most  delicate  for 
whatever  is  virtuous  and  noble,  he  is  enamored  with  loy- 


58  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

alty  and  truth,  as  the  musician  is  with  harmony,  and  the 
sculptor  with  ideal  forms;  our  vices  and  our  weaknesses 
shock  him ;  to  him  they  are  monstrosities." 

"In  the  lost  play  Hamlet's  feigned  madness  bore  a  com- 
ic aspect  in  certain  of  those  scenes  which,  as  they  appear 
in  the  modern  Hamlet,  strike  us  as  most  deeply  tragic.  If 
we  consider  the  manifold  consequences  of  the  growth  of 
the  play  through  the  successive  versions,  a  few,  at  least  of 
the  inconsistencies  will  be  accounted  for." 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Are  there  any  inconsistencies 
in  Hamlet's  speech  or  action  which  cannot  be  accounted 
for  upon  the  supposition  that  Hamlet  was  feigning  mad- 
ness ?  Among  the  foregoing  criticisms  how  many  of  them 
can  be  harmonized  into  one  complete  view  of  the  various 
aspects  of  Hamlet's  character? 

2.  Topic. — The  Queen  and  Ophelia. 

Hints : — Do  the  women  in  the  play  take  any  initial  part 
in  the  action  ?  They  represent  two  weak  types  of  woman- 
hood; one  weak  and  with  what  would  to-day  be  called 
degenerate  tendencies;  the  other  weak  and  innately  good. 
Does  the  Queen  in  her  interview  with  Hamlet  show  any 
real  possibilities  of  regeneration  in  character,  or  is  she 
merely  frightened  by  the  fact  that  Hamlet  knows  of  her 
husband's  guilt?  Was  she  an  active  or  only  a  passive 
party  to  the  murder  of  Hamlet's  Father?  Does  she  really 
believe  Hamlet  is  mad  as  she  tells  the  King  after  her  inter- 
view, or  is  she  anxious  to  get  rid  of  Hamlet,  at  any  cost? 
Is  there  any  indication  that  she  lets  the  King  know  that 
Hamlet  is  really  cognizant  of  his  guilt? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  59 

Was  the  Queen  Hamlet's  friend,  from  the  scene  where 
he  spake  daggers  to  her  and  used  none,  on  to  the  last? 
Does  her  conscience  from  then  on  reproach  her?  What 
signs  of  it  does  the  action  afford  ?  Shakespeare  makes  her 
the  first  dramatic  agent  of  the  final  clearing  up  of  the  plot, 
by  causing  her  to  drink  the  poison  and  thus  warn  Hamlet 
of  the  King's  foul  play.  Discuss  the  fitness  of  this  use 
of  the  Queen  also  her  last  speech:  "Oh  my  deere  Ham- 
let, the  drinke,  the  drinke,  I  am  poyson'd." 

Was  Ophelia  in  any  way  to  blame  for  following  the 
advice  of  her  brother  and  her  Father.  Having  been  told 
that  Hamlet  was  mad  could  a  simple  girl  have  imagined 
anything  else  than  that  he  was  mad  when  he  acted  toward 
her  as  he  did  ?  Even  if  she  had  been  a  more  penetrating 
woman,  could  she  have  helped  the  situation  in  any  way? 
Hamlet  for  the  time  being,  was  too  much  disillusionized 
and  perturbed  to  have  profited  even  by  full  sympathy  and 
comprehension.  His  mood  was  such  that  any  woman 
would  have  been  justified  in  thinking  that  he  had  merely 
been  playing  with  her. 

Is  the  depth  of  Ophelia's  affectional  nature  proved  by 
the  fact  that  she  could  not  stand  the  strain  of  Hamlet's 
change  of  attitude  toward  her,  and  her  Father's  death? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — The  Queen  was  Ophelia's 
worst  enemy  because  through  her  degeneracy  she  brought 
about  conditions  which  made  it  impossible  for  Ophelia's 
fine  nature  to  blossom  as  it  would  in  a  happy  environment. 

Is  the  worst  aspect  of  such  guilt  as  that  of  the  King  and 
Queen  the  fact  of  its  psychological  reaction  upon  their  own 
natures  or  its  disillusionizing  effect  upon  such  honorable 


60  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

natures  as  Hamlet's;  its  crime  against  the  body  of  Ham- 
let's Father,  or  its  crime  against  the  normal  fulfillment  of 
Ophelia's  destiny  as  the  wife  of  Hamlet? 

Why  did  the  Queen  drink  the  poison'd  cup?  Was  it 
an  unconscious  act?  Did  she  guess  the  truth,  punish  her- 
self, save  and  warn  Hamlet,  and  at  V.  ii.  268,  call 
him  to  her  in  order  to  say  farewell  ? 

3.  Topic. — Types  of  men  portrayed  in  the  Play. 

Hints: — How  would  you  characterize  these  types? 
The  King  is  ambitious,  unprincipled  and  hypocritical :  has 
he  any  good  points?  Would  it  be  possible  for  a  man  to 
commit  the  crime  he  committed  and  yet  have  the  affection- 
ate disposition  which  he  shows  toward  the  Queen  and  the 
kindliness  he  evinces  towards  everybody  else?  He  has  a 
trace  of  conscience;  would  he  have  righted  things  if  he 
could  ?  What  one  step  could  he  have  taken  to  prevent  the 
tragedies  of  the  play?  Since  he  took  steps  only  to  protect 
himself  at  any  cost,  can  it  be  said  that  his  conscience 
amounted  to  much? 

Is  Hamlet's  characterization  of  Polonius  as  an  "old 
fool"  all  that  can  be  said  for  him  ? 

Contrast  his  opinion  of  Polonius  with  his  opinion  of 
Horatio.  Is  Horatio's  friendship  in  any  way  an  active 
one  ?  Is  his  passivity  in  the  action  due  to  his  temperament, 
to  the  fact  that  his  position  was  so  humble  a  one  that 
he  could  not  be  active?  Is  Hamlet's  fondness  for  him 
largely  due  to  his  separateness  from  the  intrigues  of  the 
court?  Must  he  not  have  had  an  innate  sincerity  and  loyal- 
ty aside  from  all  conditions  so  to  have  won  the  esteem  of 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  61 

Hamlet?  What  are  Laertes'  good  points?  and  in  what 
ways  does  he  show  weakness?  Are  Rosencrantz  and 
Guildenstern  so  much  creatures  of  the  king  that  they  have 
no  minds  of  their  own  ?  Are  there  any  other  minor  char- 
acters whose  individuality  is  marked? 

Are  all  the  characters  insignificant  and  simple  in  their 
make-up  by  the  side  of  Hamlet?  Just  what  are  the  rea- 
sons why  he  is  so  different  and  so  superior  to  them  all? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Are  all  the  characters  in  the 
play  simply  foils  for  the  complete  revealing  of  Hamlet's 
nature? 

If  this  is  the  case,  why  should  the  criticisms  upon  Ham- 
let's character  be  so  variable  ? 

THE  ORIGINAL  MATERIAL 

Topic. — Literary  Factors  of  the  Play. 

Hints: — What  are  the  sources  of  the  play?  In  what 
way  does  it  resemble  the  old  story  of  Amleth?  (Extracts 
from  Belleforest's  story  of  Amleth  may  be  found  in  the 
First  Folio  Shakespeare,  also  full  information  about 
Sources). 

In  what  ways  does  the  version  of  1604  differ  from  that 
of  1603?  What  interesting  points  are  there  in  connection 
with  the  early  editions?  What  is  the  general  character 
of  the  allusions  in  the  play  ?  Are  there  many  Elizabethan 
turns  of  expression?  (See  Literary  Illustrations).  Are 
opinions  agreed  as  to  the  duration  of  the  action?  Upon 
what  circumstances  does  the  decision  in  regard  to  the  date 
of  the  play  depend?  (See  First  Folio  Shakespeare). 


62  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

MOOT  POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

I.  After  learning  the  cause  of  his  father's  death,  why 
does  not  Hamlet  instantly  go  and  murder  the  murderer? 
He  is  not  wanting  in  will,  and  certainly  not  in  strength, 
as  his  thrust  at  Polonius,  his  fight  with  Laertes,  and  his 
soliloquies  show.     (Herder). 

II.  This  enigmatical  work  resembles  those  irrational 
equations,  in  which  a  fraction  of  unknown  magnitude  al- 
ways remains,  that  will  in  no  manner  admit  of  solution. 
(Schlegel).     If  this  is  true  how  is  it  true? 

III.  Why  has  not  Shakespeare  made  Horatio  a  person  of 
high  intellectual  ability?    Because  it  would  have  distorted 
the  whole  piece.     (Horn).    What  do  you  think? 

IV.  I  see  in  Polonius  a  real  statesman.    Discreet,  politic, 
keen  sighted,  ready  at  the  council  board,  cunning  upon 
occasion.  He  had  been  valued  by  the  deceased  King,  and  is 
now  indispensable  to  his  successor.     (Tieck).     Can  any- 
thing be  said  for  this  point  or  view? 

V.  Hamlet  had  seduced  Ophelia,  and  she  saw  not  what 
she  had  lost  until,  by  the  murder  of  her  father,  the  loss 
became  irreparable.     Happily  for  her  virtue,  the  etiquette 
of  piety,  the  policy  of  morality  came  to  her  aid.    She  loses 
both  her  wits  and  her  life,  and  knows  not  why.  (Boerne). 
By  what  possible  contortion  of  the  events  in   the  play 
could  such  a  theory  as  this  be  supported  ? 

VI.  The  explanation  of  the  piece  is  apparent  if  we  keep 
in  mind  the  ghostly  back  ground.    Hamlet,  like  Macbeth, 
is  encompassed  by  a  ghostly  world,  only  it  is  not  so  glar- 
ingly so  in  Hamlet's  case ;  the  catastrophe  is  hence  brought 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  HAMLET  63 

about  by  ghostly  agency.  The  notorious  exchange  of 
rapiers,  by  which  Hamlet  is  forced,  just  before  his  death, 
to  fulfill  his  work,  appears  to  be  the  work  of  spirits;  the 
punishing,  and  at  the  same  time,  guiding  hand  is  thrust  in 
to  bring  on  the  end,  as  in  the  planetary  system  the  force  of 
physical  law  rules  with  an  iron  necessity,  although  the 
event  is  accomplished  apparently  by  accident.  (Mar- 
quard).  Is  there  anything  to  indicate  supernatural  agency 
in  the  exchange  of  rapiers  ?  The  supernatural  works  only 
through  Hamlet.  What  is  the  reason  of  this? 

VII.  Is  the  ghost  really  as  lofty  a  personage  as  he  has 
often     been     described?     .     .     .     Instead   of   beginning 
with  the  business  on  hand,  his  murder,  he  tells  first  of  his 
torments  in  hell,  and  manifests  the  greatest  pleasure  in 
giving  a  great  poetical  picture  therefor.     He  is  bent  upon 
making  a  regular  climax,  and  ending  \rith  the  greatest 
horror,  his  murder  by  a  brother.    But  this  is  a  fault.  The 
terrible  thing  about  a  ghost  is,  that  it  appears  and  speaks  ; 
what  it  does  and  says,  were  it  never  so  horrible,  is  childish 
in  comparison.     (Boerne).    Would  you  argue  in  opposi- 
tion to  this  that  for  a  man  of  Hamlet's  philosophical  and 
sceptical  nature  an  ordinary  ghost  would  have  no  terrors? 
Was  it  not  the  cumulative  effect  of  the  Ghost's  speech 
that  brought  him  to  such  a  pitch  of  excitement? 

VIII.  The  mystery  of  the  supernatural  goes  deepening 
on  more  and  more  powerfully  through  the  whole  first  act, 
but  after  the  ghost  appears  and  speaks,  the  piece  no  longer 
advances  in  interest,  and  with  the  first  act  ends  also  all 
effective  power.     .     .     .     The  faults,  which  become  visi- 
ble from  the  second  act  on,  are  the  following.    The  tragic 


64  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

center  of  the  whole  action  lies  behind  us,  and  what,  else- 
where in  Shakespeare's  works  is  wont  to  affect  us  so  irre- 
sistibly, instead  of  growing  upon  us,  is  here  rather  pre- 
supposed. The  dramatic  knot  of  the  piece  is  the  mur- 
dered father  of  the  hero.  After  the  Ghost  has  related  the 
fearful  story  nothing  more  remains  for  the  stage.  ( Moriz 
Rapp.)  Is  a  sufficient  answer  to  this  contained  in  the 
following  remarks:  Hamlet  is  the  tragedy  of  the  intel- 
lect. Hence  it  is  that,  next  to  'Faust/  Hamlet  is  the 
profoundest,  boldest,  most  characteristic  tragedy  that  has 
ever  been  written,  because  its  hero  succumbs  not  through 
that  which  otherwise  is  well  named  human  weakness,  but 
through  that  which  one  must  perforce  call  human 
strength.  (Edouard  Cans). 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  JULIUS  CAESAR 
ACT  I.  BROODING  CONSPIRACY. 

Topic. — For  Paper,  Classwork  or  Private  Study — The 
Entanglement  of  Brutus  in  the  Conspiracy. 

Hints : — Show  how  the  story  of  this  act  is  the  progress 
of  the  conspiracy,  and  how  important  a  part  in  it  is  the 
project  to  make  Brutus  join  in  the  conspiracy;  why  it  is 
considered  important,  and  by  what  means  it  is  effected. 
(See  Rolfe's  second  article  on  'Julius  Caesar'  in  Poet-lore, 
Vol.  V.,  p.  424,  Aug.-Sept.,  '93).  In  showing  the  rela- 
tion of  this  to  the  plot,  indicate  how  the  conspiracy  is  the 
spring  from  which  all  the  rest  of  the  play  takes  its  start. 
Who  is  the  leader  of  the  conspirators,  Brutus  or  Cassius? 
Should  you  say,  judging  by  this  act,  that  Antony  had  an 
important  part  to  play?  Note  what  it  is  that  he  does 
and  its  results. 

Points  for  Study,  or  Short  Replies:— I.  ("Being  Me- 
chanicall)  .  .  .  signe  of  Your  Profession" — what 
does  this  mean?  Give  instances  of  other  sumptuary  laws 
then  or  in  later  times.  2.  How  was  a  Roman  triumph  cele- 
brated? 3.  What  was  the  feast  of  Lupercal?  4.  "That 
you  have  no  such  Mirrors,  as  will  turne,"  etc.  What  sort 
of  mirrors  did  the  Romans  have?  Is  there  any  probability 
that  such  Mirrors,  as  are  here  meant  were  magic  mirrors  ? 
What  were  these?  5.  To  what  story  of  the  origin  of  Rome 
does  Cassius  refer?  (I.  ii.  127.)  (See  Virgil's 

65 


66  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

6.  "There  was  a  Brutus  once."  What  is  the  story  of  the 
elder  Brutus?  7.  Compare  Casca's  story  of  Caesar  and  the 
Crown  with  Plutarch's  in  his  life  of  Antonius.  (See 
'Plutarch's  Lives,'  preferably  North's  Plutarch.  8.  The 
prodigies  Casca  relates,  their  historical  truth,  and  the  cur- 
rent belief  in  omens.  9.  Pompey's  theatre.  Describe  the 
Roman  theatres.  (See  'Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.') 
10.  The  old  ideas  about  "the  thunder  stone."  (See  "First 
Folio  Shakespeare.") 

Query  for  Discussion : — Is  it  pride  of  ancestry  or  repub- 
licanism that  leads  Brutus  to  join  the  conspirators? 

ACT  II.     BRUTUS'  WEIGHT  IN  THE  SCALE;   CAESAR'S 
HESITATION 

Topic. — The  Conspiracy  of  Caesar's  Friends. 

Hints : — Tell  the  story  of  this  act,  noting  that  it  shows 
the  action  poised  as  if  on  a  pivot  able  to  turn  either  way. 
On  one  side  are  the  conspirators  intriguing  and  anxious 
lest  their  designs  leak  out ;  on  the  other,  Caesar's  wife  and 
the  Soothsayers  fearful  of  harm  to  Caesar,  and  doing  what 
they  can  to  prevent  it,  but  powerless  before  the  trick  of 
Decius  and  Caesar's  own  bravado.  Trace  the  parts  of  all 
in  the  result. 

Points:— i.  "First  of  March."  Compare  with  I.  ii.  24, 
III.  i.  6.  What  was  the  Roman  method  of  calculating 
time?  2.  "That  Unicornes,"  etc.  (See  Notes  "First  Fo- 
lio Shakespeare.)  4.  How  did  the  Romans  measure  the 
hours?  When  was  the  first  clock  invented ?  5.  What  con- 
nection had  the  soothsayers  with  the  Roman  popular  re- 
ligion ? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  JULIUS  CAESAR     67 

Query  for  Discussion: — Does  the  leniency  of  Brutus 
arise  from  a  merciful  feeling  or  from  his  lack  of  foresight 
as  to  the  consequences  of  his  deed  ? 

ACT  III.  THE  CONSUMMATION  OF  THE  CONSPIRACY 

Topic.— Caesar's  Death. 

Hints: — Compare  Shakespeare's  story  of  the  deed  with 
Plutarch's.  What  elements  of  strength  and  weakness  do 
the  conspirators  show?  Trace  all  the  hints  given  in  this 
act  of  the  opposition  the  deed  has  awakened.  How  does 
Antony's  soliloquy  in  Act  III.,  i.  foreshadow  his  speech  in 
Scene  ii.  and  his  future  action  ?  Is  Shakespeare's  portrait 
of  the  Roman  people  true  or  prejudiced?  Note  that  both 
Brutus  and  Antony  make  their  appeals  to  the  people  and 
that  Shakespeare  represents  the  people  as  ignorant  and  fic- 
kle. Was  Shakespeare  a  conservative  politically?  (See 
on  this  point  remarks  on  Shakespeare's  Conservatism  in 
'Julius  Caesar'  in  "Dramatic  Motive  in  Browning's 
'Strafford,'  "  in  Poet-lore,  Vol.  V.,  p.  520,  Oct.,  '93.) 

Points: — .  "Caesar  doth  never  wrong  without  just 
cause"  is  said  to  be  the  original  reading,  which  Ben  Jon- 
son  called  absurd,  of  "Know  Caesar  doth  not  wrong,"  etc. 
Frame  a  plea  for  this  Shakespearian  "absurdity,"  defend- 
ing it  by  citing  similar  paradoxes  in  the  plays  (see  'Gen- 
tle Will,  our  Fellow,'  Poet-lore,  Vol.  V.,  April,  '93.)  2. 
Who  was  Ate?  3.  Of  what  use  is  Scene  iii.  in  the  play? 
Did  Shakespeare  get  it  from  Plutarch  ?  Would  it  be  bet- 
ter left  out  ?  Have  we  here  detected  him  in  idly  imitating 
his  original  or  not?  What  is  the  stage  usage  about  it? 


68  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

What  can  be  argued  from  its  being  "cut"? 

Query  for  Discussion: — Which  was  the  more  premedi- 
tated and  artful  speech, — Brutus's  or  Antony's? 

ACTS  IV.  AND  V.  COUNTER  INFLUENCES  PREVAIL 

Topic. — The  Thickening  Misfortunes  of  Brutus. 

Hints: — In  the  latter  part  of  Act  III.  the  tide  against 
Caesar  shows  signs  of  turning  against  Brutus.  Show  how 
in  Acts  IV.  and  V.  events  bear  more  and  more  heavily 
upon  him.  Do  you  think  Shakespeare  meant  us  to  sympa- 
thize with  Brutus  or  to  find  his  misfortunes  a  retribution  ? 
(See  'The  Supernatural  in  Shakespeare/  III.  in  'Julius 
Caesar/  Vol.  V.,  Poet-lore,  p.  625,  Dec,,  '93 ;  also  Rolfe's 
third  paper  on  'Julius  Caesar/  Poet-lore,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  u, 
Jan.,  '94.) 

Points: — i.  Lucius  Pella.  What  does  history  tell  of 
him?  2.  Antony's  and  Caesar's  Will:  contrast  between 
Antony's  first  and  last  mention  of  it.  3.  "Pluto's  mine." 
Explain  the  allusion.  (See  First  Folio  Shakespeare).  4. 
Shakespeare's  Ghosts:  Caesar's  shade  compared  with  oth- 
er Shakespearian  ghosts.  (See  'The  Supernatural  in 
Shakespeare.'  Three  papers  in  Poet-lore,  Vol.  V.,  1893.) 
5.  "Hibla  bees."  What  are  they?  6.  Epicurus.  What 
was  his  philosophy?  7.  The  geography  of  the  play: 
Masses,  Sardis,  Philippi,  etc.  8.  The  Stoics:  Their  Doc- 
trines and  Practice.  9.  Books  in  the  time  of  Brutus. 
What  were  they  like?  (See  'Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans.') 

Query  for  Discussion: — Are  Cassius  and  Antony  or 
Brutus  and  Caesar  the  main  actors  in  this  drama? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  JULIUS  CAESAR     69 
V.  CHARACTER  STUDIES 

1.  Topic. — Caesar  and  Antony. 

Hints : — Caesar  as  Shakespeare's  hero.  Cite  other  refer- 
ences to  Caesar  in  Shakespeare.  Does  the  Caesar  of  the 
play  agree  in  character  with  the  other  references  made  to 
him  in  Shakespeare?  Is  the  character  of  Caesar  in  this 
play  consistent  throughout  it?  Does  Caesar  excite  less 
sympathy  at  the  beginning  of  the  play  than  at  the  end? 
Why,  in  spite  of  his  superstition,  does  Caesar  decide  to  go 
to  the  Capitol?  Was  Caesar's  pre-eminence  good  for  the 
world  of  his  day  ?  Was  he  really  more  in  sympathy  with  • 
the  populace  than  Brutus?  (See  Mommsen's  'History  of 
Rome'  or  Froude's  'Caesar ;'  also,  remarks  on  Shakespeare's 
Conservatism,  before  quoted,  Poet-lore,  Oct.,  '93.)  Note 
the  development  of  Antony  in  the  championship  of  Caesar. 
The  Relations  of  Antony  with  the  Rabble  compared  with 
those  of  Brutus.  Why  does  Antony  succeed  with  the  peo- 
ple better  than  Brutus  does?  Notice  signs  of  his  com- 
radship  with  his  soldiers,  etc.,  in  'Antony  and  Cleopatra.' 

Query  for  Discussion: — Does  Shakespeare  fail  to  make 
Caesar  imperial ?  (See  Poet-lore,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  152,  March, 
'92;  also  'Is  Shakespeare's  Caesar  Ignoble?'  Vol.  IV.,  p. 
191,  April,  '92;  and  'Julius  Caesar.'  Three  papers.  Vol. 
V.,  pp.  169,  424,  April  and  Aug-Sept.,  93,  and  Vol  VI., 
p.  u,  Jan.,  '94.) 

2.  Topic.— "The  Noblest  Roman  of  them  All,"  Brutus. 
Hints: — Show  either  that  this  description  of  Brutus  is 

true  or  false.    Notice  him  in  his  various  relations  with  the 


70  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

other  characters  of  the  play, — as  a  husband,  friend,  con- 
spirator, party-leader,  general,  philosopher.  Does  his  life 
conform  to  his  ideas  as  a  Stoic?  Notice  the  way  he  took 
his  wife's  dea^;  how  he  met  his  own.  Was  Cassius  as 
.(disinterested  in  his  motives  as  Brutus?  Is  he  a  thorough 
friend  to  Brutus,  or  does  he  use  him  for  his  own  ends? 

Query  for  Discussion: — Was  Brutus  justified  in  strik- 
ing down  his  friend  for  Rome's  sake?  (Compare  with 
Pym's  action  in  Browning's  ' Straff ord.'  See  Poet-lore 
for  Comparative  Studies  of  'Caesar'  and  'Strafford.'  Vol. 
II.,  p.  214,  April,  '90;  Vol.  IV.,  p.  148,  March,  '92; 
Vol.  V.,  p.  5i5,  Oct., '93.) 

3.  Topic.— The  Women  of  the  Play. 

Hints : — Have  they  any  direct  influence  on  the  progress 
of  events?  Any  indirect  influence?  Which  of  the  two 
wives  is  more  helpful  to  her  husband?  Is  Portia  one  of 
Shakespeare's  noblest  women?  Why? 

4.  Topic. — The  Minor  Characters. 

Hints : — The  "honest  Casca :"  Does  he  deserve  his  title 
'  according  to  the  play?    The  clever  flatterer:  Decius  Bru- 
^tus.    What  idea  do  you  get  of  him  in  the  few  lines  de- 
voted to  him?     Cicero  and  his  policy:    Does  the  secrecy 
rof  his  sympathy  with  the  conspirators  show  wisdom  or 
meanness?    What  originality  does  Shakespeare's  portrait 
of  him  evince?     (On  this  point  see  Rolfe's  third  paper 
on  'Julius  Caesar,'  Poet-lore,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  II,  Jan.,  '94.) 
The  Tribunes:    Their  origin  and  office.    Compare  those 
in  this  play  with  those  in  'Coriolanus.'     Is  Shakespeare 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  JULIUS  CAESAR     71 

right  in  representing  them  as  more  democratic  than  the 
people  themselves?  The  young  Octavius  Caesar  in  this 
play  considered  as  foreshadowing  his  later  career  as  shown 
in  'Anthony  and  Cleopatra.'  (See  'Antony  and  Octav- 
ius,' Poet-lore f  Vol.  II.,  p.  516,  Oct.,  '90.)  Pompey,  the 
great  character  outside  the  play,  and  his  career  as  the 
necessary  forerunner  of  Caesar's  imperialism. 

Query  for  Discussion: — Are  there  any  useless  charac- 
ters in  this  drama,  or  do  they  each  have  a  part  to  play  in 
the  development  of  the  plot? 

VI.     DRAMATIC  MOTIVE 

Topic. — Dramatic  Motive  in  'Julius  Caesar.' 
Hints: — Is  the  play  a  mere  adaptation  of  Plutarch's 
'Lives  of  Caesar  and  Brutus,'  as  some  critics  have  said? 
What  is  its  drift?  Is  its  motive  envy  opposed  to  ambition, 
friendship  to  patriotism,  republicanism  to  the  spirit  of  the 
time?  (See  'Dramatic  Motive  in  Shakespeare,'  Poet-lore, 
Vol.  VI.,  also  articles  before  mentioned.)  Is  Csesar  om 
Brutus  the  hero  of  the  play?  In  what  characters  ar*  its 
elements  of  conflict  represented  ? 

Query  for  Discussion: — Is  'Juliu^  Caesar'  better  fitted 
for  stage  presentation  or  for  reading?  '  •„• 

MOOT  POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

I.  Shakespeare  has  been  blamed  for  not  having  called 
this  work  "Marcus  Brutus."  But  if  Brutus  is  the  hero 
of  the  play,  Caesar,  his  power,  his  death — this  is  the  sub- 


72  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

ject."   (H.  Gomont).   Since  Caesar's  principles  triumphed 
in  the  end  might  he  also  be  called  the  hero  of  the  play  ? 

II.  It  is  the  spirit  of  Caesar,  not  his  bodily  presence  sub- 
ject to  all  the  ills  of  flesh  and  fortune  which  is  the  dom- 
inant power  of  the  tragedy;    against  this — the  spirit  ot 
Caesar — Brutus  fought;   but  Brutus  who  forever  errs  in 
practical  politics,  succeeded  only  in  striking  down  Caesar's 
body;    he  who  had  been  weak  now  rises  as  pure  spirit, 
strong  and  terrible,  and  avenges  himself  upon  the  con- 
spirators.    (Dowden).    Is  any  argument  against  this  view 
possible  ? 

III.  If  the  empire  had  depended  only  upon  the  genius 
of  a  man,  Brutus  would  have  been  able  in  killing  Caesar, 
to  save  the  republic;   but  the  empire  had  its  roots  in  the 
might  of  events.     (Stapfer).     Is  assassination  under  any 
conditions  likely  to  prove  a  good  first  step  toward  better 
conditions  ? 

IV.  The  portrait  of  Portia,  like  that  of  Brutus  is  al- 
ready  in    history   a   picture   complete,    finished,    wherein 
poetry  might  enrich  the  colors,  but  could  not  perfect  the 
design  in  any  essential  lines.     (Stapfer).    Do  you  feel  this 
to  be  true  ? 

V.  [In  Portia]  I  find  that  he  is  a  little  behind  his  model 
and  that  he  has  not  reproduced  all  her  beauties  of  which 
some  are  apparently  peculiar  to  a  narrative  style  and  rebel 
against  translation  into  the  language  of  Drama:    Does 
this  sufficiently  account  for  the  differences  between  Plut- 
arch's and  Shakespeare's  Portia? 

VI.  The  scene  between  Brutus  and  Portia,  where  she 
endeavors  to  extort  the  secret  of  the  conspiracy  from  him, 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  JULIUS  CAESAR     73 

is  conceived  in  the  most  heroical  spirit,  and  his  burst  of 
tenderness  is  justified  by  her  whole  behavior.  Portia's 
breathless  impatience  to  learn  the  event  of  the  conspiracy, 
in  the  dialogue  with  Lucius,  is  full  of  passion.  The  in- 
terest which  Portia  takes  in  Brutus  and  that  which  Cal- 
purnia  takes  in  the  fate  of  Caesar  are  discriminated  with 
the  nicest  precision.  (Hazlitt)  Does  this  appreciation  of 
Portia  show  a  better  insight  into  Shakespeare's  portrayal 
of  her  character  than  the  last? 

VII.  The  solidest  result  of  Mommsen's  .monumental 
investigations  in  Roman  history  is,  let  us  venture  to  say, 
the  affirmation  that  the  closest  friend  and  ally  the  Roman 
populace  had  at  that  time  was  Caesar,  and  not  the  patri- 
cian senatorial  party,  calling  itself  the  lovers  of  liberty,  but 
really  representing  the  losing  cause  of  class  power.    This 
fact  Shakespeare  shows,  not  theoretically  and  explicitly, 
of  course,  but  dramatically,  in  character,  dialogue  and  ac- 
tion. (Introduction  to  "First  Folio"  Caesar).  Is  this  claim- 
ing too  much  for  Shakespeare's  historical  penetration? 

VIII.  Mr.  Hudson  believes  that  he  can  detect  a  "re- 
fined and  subtile  irony"  diffusing  itself  through  the  tex- 
ture of  the  play;  that  Brutus,  a  shallow  idealist,  should 
outshine  the  greatest  practical  genius  he  ever  saw  can  have 
no  other  than  ironical  significance?    Is  it  a  simple  mat- 
ter to  show  the  faultiness  of  this  criticism? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  KING  LEAR 

The  severe  simplicity  of  the  Greek  tragedy  of  Father- 
hood as  told  in  the  ^dipus  dramas,  renders  more  striking 
in  contrast  the  complexity  and  mass  of  the  great  Northern 
tragedy  of  Fatherhood,  as  told  in  'Lear.'  Consideration 
of  the  dramatic  skill  employed  in  the  development  and  fu- 
sion of  the  double  plot,  and  in  the  effective  grouping  of  its 
various  types  of  character,  is  the  more  needed  for  the 
comprehension  and  appreciation  of  its  artistic  beauty. 

The  main  steps  of  the  dramatic  action,  and  the  inter- 
weaving of  the  two  plots,  are  first  to  be  noticed,  as  the 
story  unfolds  from  act  to  act.  Next  come  the  main  points 
in  the  grouping  of  the  characters. 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  I 

Topic. — For  Paper  Classwork  or  Private  Study. 

The  Double  Plot:— Lear's  Test  and  Edmund's  Scheme. 

Notice  that  the  play  opens  on  a  double  plot,  the  mo- 
tives of  which  are  similar,  yet  diverse  enough,  and  which 
enhance  each  other.  The  first  few  words  of  Kent  and 
Gloster  reveal  the  whole  story  of  Lear's  intended  partition 
of  his  kingdom,  and  directly  Edmund  is  introduced  and 
the  circumstances  which  have  embittered  his  pride  and  will 
lead  him  to  seek  supremacy  are  set  forth  clearly,  though 
with  touches  that  seem  merely  casual.  Show  how  all 
the  incidents  of  this  act  unfold  from  this  brief  prologue. 
First,  Lear's  test  of  his  daughter's  love  is  developed  and 

74 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  KING  LEAR         75 

its  consequences  wrought  out:  the  cutting  off  of  Cordelia, 
the  banishment  of  Kent;  then,  in  the  next  scene,  Ed- 
mund's plot  against  Edgar  is  elaborated;  and  thereupon, 
out  of  the  King's  trust  in  Goneril's  false  profession  the  in- 
cidents of  scenes  iii.,  iv.,  and  v.  flow.  Is  Lear's  treatment 
by  Regan  and  Goneril  foreshadowed  in  this  first  scene? 

Points: — i.  Probable  date  of  the  play,  and  reasons  for 
it.  2.  What  does  Regan  mean  by  the  'most  precious  square 
of  sense'  ?  3.  Give  an  account  of  astrology  in  Shakespeare's 
day.  4.  What  was  the  office  and  dress  of  a  fool?  Was  the 
habit  of  having  a  court  jester  as  old  as  the  time  of  Lear? 
5.  Explanation  of  all  difficult'  allusions  in  the  act. 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Did  Cordelia  see  disaster 
ahead  for  her  father  from  the  first?  And  if  so,  is  she 
therefore  to  blame  for  not  being  more  tractable? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  II 

Topic. — Double  Effects: — Edgar  proscribed,  Lear  shut 
out. 

Summarize  the  events  of  Act  II,  and  show  how  they  fol- 
low two  lines  of  the  plots  which  gradually  become  inter- 
twisted, beginning  in  sc.  i.  of  this  act  with  Edmund's  de- 
signs to  embroil  Edgar  with  one  or  other  of  the  Dukes, 
or  to  prejudice  them  against  him,  and  so  on,  as  events 
permit.  Is  the  quarrel  of  Kent  and  Oswald  a  necessary 
part  of  the  play?  What  does  it  effect?  Is  Regan  harder 
than  Goneril?  Would  she  have  been  less  hard  if  Goneril 
had  not  prompted  her  action?  Why  does  Shakespeare 
make  Cornwall  so  much  harsher  than  Albany?  How  would 
it  have  worked  to  have  made  Albany  the  more  violent 


76  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

against  the  King?  Would  the  dramatic  effect  have  been 
as  good?  When  does  Lear's  mind  first  show  signs  of 
breaking  ?  Of  what  use  to  the  story's  progress  are  Curan's 
few  words  at  the  beginning  of  this  act.  Compare  these  with 
the  conversation  of  Kent  and  'gentleman'  in  Act  III.  Are 
Albany  and  Gloster  to  blame  in  not  taking  Lear's  part 
more  strongly  ? 

Points: — i.  Give  the  meaning  of  the  obsolete  words 
gasted,  jakes,  unbolted,  intrinse,  renege,  etc.  2.  Collect 
and  explain  the  allusions  in  this  act  referring  to  Eliza- 
bethan ways  of  living,  such  as  Kent's  epithets  for  Oswald 
(which,  it  may  be  noted,  are  not  quite  in  place  for  a  play 
of  the  time  of  King  Joash  of  the  Bible).  3.  What  was 
Sarum  and  Camelot?  4.  The  custom  of  Bedlam  Beg- 
gars. 5.  Examine  the  indications  given  as  to  time  in 
scenes  ii.  and  iv.  How  long  after  Kent's  arrival  before  he 
was  set  in  the  stocks,  and  how  long  did  he  stay?  6. 
What  are  the  sources  of  the  play  ?  ( See  Notes  'First  Folio 
Edition'  of  'Lear.') 

Query  for  Discussion: — Which  has  the  more  reason  to 
proscribe  one  child  and  favor  another, — Gloster  or  Lear? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  III 

Topic.— The  Storm,  Promise  of  Deliverance.  Ed- 
mund's Plot  deepens. 

Describe  in  brief  the  events  and  the  general  effect  as  a 
whole  of  Act  III.  The  first  scene  deepens  the  feeling  of  a 
coming  division  amongst  themselves  of  Lear's  oppressors, 
already  anticipated  in  the  preceding  Act.  It  strengthens 
the  hope,  also  suggested  in  the  foregoing  Act,  that  Cordelia 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  KING  LEAR         77 

is  on  the  way  to  champion  Lear's  cause.  This  faint  ray 
of  light  only  serves  to  make  more  visible  the  tempestuous 
darkness  of  Lear's  sufferings ;  and  even  the  hardships  of 
the  storm  scene  are  surpassed  in  cruelty,  not  in  dignity,  by 
the  effects  of  Edmund's  designs  against  his  father.  These 
designs,  too,  it  must  be  noticed,  threaten  the  earlier  hope  of 
rescue,  and  leave  despair  poised  at  the  end  of  the  Act  be- 
tween horror  and  recklessness.  Show  how  this  double 
culmination  of  agony  is  the  necessary  result  of  the  double 
plot. 

Points: — i.  When  did  Merlin  prophesy,  and  why  does 
the  Fool  say,  'I  live  before  his  time'?  2.  Collect  and 
explain  the  allusions  to  popular  fables  and  ballads  in  this 
act,  pelican,  pillicock,  'suum  non,  nonny,'  'Child  Row- 
land,' etc.  (Note  Browning's  use  of  the  line  about  Childe 
Roland  in  his  poem  of  the  same  name.)  3.  Edgar's  fiends, 
'Malin,'  'Modo,'  etc.  (See  also  his  own  explanation,  IV., 
ii.,  and  M.  D.  Conway's  'Demons  of  the  Shadow'  or  any 
History  of  the  Devil.) 

Query  for  Discussion : — Is  the  tragic  in  scene  vii.  'urged 
beyond  the  outermost  mark  of  the  dramatic,'  as  Coleridge 
says,  or  is  such  physical  horror  the  only  possible  effect  that 
would  not  make  an  anticlimax  after  the  outbreak  of  Lear's 
madness? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  IV 

Topic.— The  Plot  Unified.  Good  and  Bad  Powers  at 
Contest. 

What  are  the  events  of  Act  IV.?  Describe  its  climax- 
scene,  so  far  as  emotion  is  concerned, — the  meeting  of  Lear 


78  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

and  Cordelia.  What  is  Kent's  part  in  bringing  this  about? 
How  do  Cordelia's  thanks  exhibit  her  character?  Show 
how  by  the  blindness  of  Gloster  and  Cornwall's  sudden 
punishment  Edgar  and  Edmund  are  pushed  to  the  front 
on  opposite  sides;  Albany  is  roused,  also,  to  play  a  more 
active  part,  wherein,  though  bound  to  repulse  the  French 
invasion,  his  success  will  befriend  Lear.  On  the  other 
hand,  again,  this  pushes  Goneril  on  to  greater  enmity  and 
to  plans  for  herself  and  Edmund  which  bring  out  Regan's 
ferocity ;  so  that  both  the  sisters,  while  working  with  Os- 
wald and  Edmund  against  Gloster,  Lear,  and  Cordelia, 
are  working  also  against  each  other.  Edgar's  defense  of 
his  father  against  Oswald  leads  to  the  exposure  of  Goneril 
and  to  what  little  respite  from  misery  the  next  Act  can 
boast.  Note  that  this  fourth  Act  ends  with  the  double  plot 
made  in  effect  through  Edgar's  championing  one  side 
against  Edmund,  who  stands  for  the  other. 

Query  for  Discussion: — Which  of  the  events  narrated 
in  Act  IV.  is  most  important  in  its  effect  upon  Act  V.  ? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  V 

Topic. — The  Solution:  Death  punishes  and  releases. 

Show  how  the  Act  opens  just  before  the  battle,  and 
that,  as  Shakespeare  makes  it  go  against  Cordelia,  it  does 
not  provide  a  solution  of  the  plot,  and  how,  unless  the  sis- 
ters' evil-doing  is  to  be  rewarded,  some  other  power  must 
be  brought  in  to  direct  events.  The  tournament  is  to  set- 
tle what  the  battle  left  open;  and  Edgar's  victory  over 
Edmund,  and  the  division,  for  Edmund's  sake,  between 
the  sisters,  are  the  means  to  effect  the  poetic  justice  Death 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  KING  LEAR         79 

deals  by  punishing  the  sisters  and  the  traitor,  and  releasing 
Lear  from  his  suffering.  Notice  also  that  this  expedient 
of  Shakespeare's,  making  the  tournament  instead  of  the 
historical  battle  the  point  of  the  plot,  identifies  the  two 
interests  of  the  two  houses,  Lear's  and  Gloster's,  and 
brings  the  issue  for  all  to  one  head.  The  real  tragedy  is 
for  the  most  loyal  persons, — Cordelia,  the  Fool,  Kent,  and 
Edgar. 

Points: — I.  Describe  the  customs  of  lists  and  of  single 
combats.  2.  Does  Lear's  reference  to  the  Fool  in  the 
third  scene  mean  Cordelia  or  the  Jester?  State  the  evi- 
dence for  and  against  its  being  Cordelia.  3.  What  is 
meant  by  'good-years.'  4.  How  long  does  the  play  last? 
(See  'Duration  of  the  Action,'  'First  Folio  Edition'  of 
'Lear,'  and  verify,  making  any  criticisms  that  occur  to 
you.) 

Query  for  Discussion: — Did  Shakespeare  do  'wisely 
for  his  art  and  meaning  in  letting  Father  and  Daughter 
lie  in  one  grave'?  Or  is  Cordelia  sacrificed  for  Lear's 
sake? 

CHARACTER  STUDIES 

I.  Topic. — Fatherhood  as  represented  in  Lear  and 
Gloster. 

Should  Lear  be  represented  as  senile  and  testy,  or  ma- 
jestic and  wrathful?  Were  his  defects  native,  or  the  re- 
sult of  the  royal  habits  of  arbitrary  command?  Is  the 
King  excusable  in  his  craving  for  expressions  of  love?  Is  it 
a  sign  of  a  fond  old  age?  When  does  his  mind  first  show 


8o  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

sign  of  breaking?  Is  it  ever  really  healed?  Is  Lear  any 
more  thoughtful  of  Cordelia  or  careful  of  her  happiness 
than  he  ever  was,  after  he  meets  her  again  and  they  are 
both  taken  prisoner?  When  he  is  full  of  the  idea  of  the 
pleasure  they  will  have  together  in  prison,  is  he  not  quite 
forgetful  that  she  could  have  any  other  love  or  interest? 
Trace  the  similar  and  the  different  characteristics  of  Lear 
and  Gloster  throughout  the  play.  What  characteristic 
faults  of  Lear's  and  what  of  Gloster's  have  brought  about 
the  evil  which  works  against  them  and  ends  by  punishing 
them?  What  traits  of  theirs  make  it  easy  for  their  un- 
dutiful  children  to  play  upon  them?  From  absolute  au- 
thority and  arbitrary  power  Lear's  trouble  forces  him  to 
learn  charity  and  forbearance;  yet  his  original  tendency 
continues,  and  his  old  passion  struggles  against  all  his  new 
taught  lessons  of  patience.  Between  passion  and  patience, 
'between  the  two  extremes  [says  D.  J.  Snider]  his  spirit 
will  sway  so  fiercely  as  to  shatter  him  physically  and  men- 
tally. The  way  of  Charity  leads  him  to  sanity,  the  way 
of  Revenge  to  madness.  So  he  careens  from  one  side  to 
the  other,  and  the  outcome  is  insanity.'  So,  also,  Glos- 
ter's trouble  teaches  him  the  evil  of  his  own  habit  of  mind 
and  nature,  as  Lear's  trouble  taught  him  the  evil  of  his 
fixed  habit  of  tyranny.  Gloster  makes  light  of  his  own 
faults  of  self-indulgence,  and,  preferring  not  to  hold  him- 
self responsible,  he  excuses  himself  by  attributing  events 
to  fate.  His  lack  of  will  and  self-government  leads  to  a 
superstitious  credulity,  and  is  the  instrument,  in  his  son's 
hand,  of  his  punishment  and  of  his  spiritual  awakening. 
Gloster,  who  is  spiritually  blind,  is  made  physically  blind, 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  KING  LEAR         81 

and  is  enlightened  through  the  mediation  of  his  dutiful 
son  (in  Act  IV.  sc.  vi.),  appealing  to  the  same  supersti- 
tious credulity  the  undutiful  son  had  turned  against  him. 
Why  is  it,  asks  Dowden,  'that  Gloster,  whose  suffering  is 
the  retribution  for  past  deeds,  should  be  restored  to  spirit- 
ual calm  and  light  and  pass  away  in  a  rapture  of  min- 
gled gladness  and  grief,  while  Lear,  a  man  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning,  should  be  robbed  of  the  comfort  of 
Cordelia's  love  .  .  .  and  expire  in  a  paroxysm  of  un- 
productive anguish?'  Is  it  because  Gloster,  weaker  mind- 
ed as  he  is,  yet  accuses  himself  more  relentlessly  than  Lear, 
and  is  the  purer  for  it?  Is  it  quite  true,  moreover,  that 
Lear  has  little  sin  to  expiate?  What  evidence  does  Glos- 
ter give  that  his  sons  are  equally  dear  to  him,  as  he 
claims  ? 

Queries  for  Discussion : — Do  either  of  the  fathers  show 
unselfishness  in  their  love  of  their  children? 

Is  Lear's  division  of  his  kingdom  a  sacrifice  for  his 
daughters'  sake? 

2.  Topic. — Daughterhood  as  represented  by  Goneril 
and  Regan. 

Is  daughterhood  represented  by  the  false  homage  Gon- 
eril and  Regan  profess  to  Lear,  or  do  even  their  profes- 
sions, in  case  they  were  sincere,  show  a  wrong  idea  of  the 
filial  relation?  Which  is  the  cleverer  of  these  two  sisters? 
Which  originated  their  courses  of  action?  Material  au- 
thority is  all  they  either  respect  or  desire.  The  homage 
commonly  yielded  to  success,  regardless  of  how  it  is 
reached,  and  the  scorn  paid  to  failure,  regardless  of  a  lofty 


82  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

aim,  is  a  sign  of  the  prevalence  of  just  such  characters  as 
Regan  and  Goneril  in  the  world  today.  Why  does  Gon- 
eril  despise  Albany  and  prefer  Edmund?  Is  Albany's 
weakness  a  result  of  Goneril's  control  of  events?  Is  there 
any  truth  in  Lear's  saying  that  Regan's  nature  is  more 
'tender  hearted'  and  her  eyes  more  comforting  than  Gon- 
eril's? Regan's  relations  with  Cornwall  seem  to  be  on  a 
better  footing  than  Goneril's  with  Albany;  why  is  it? 
When  did  both  begin  to  be  especially  interested  in  Ed- 
mund? Why  did  Goneril  one  way  'like  it  and  another 
like  it  not'  that  Cornwall  had  died?  Does  Goneril  kill 
herself  from  remorse  or  consciousness  of  defeat  ? 

3.  Topic. — Daughterhood  as  represented  by  Cordelia. 

Is  Cordelia  devoted  to  her  own  ideal  of  truth  at  the  ex- 
pense of  a  proper  womanly  and  filial  regard  for  her  father's 
welfare?  Is  she  hard  and  stubborn?  Or  is  she  just  and 
firm?  Is  she  right  in  refusing  to  sacrifice  her  highest 
self-interest — the  allegiance  of  her  nature  to  the  truth 
as  she  saw  it — to  any  one's  selfish  demands?  Was  she 
or  was  Lear  responsible  for  his  banishment  of  her  and 
thence  for  all  the  resulting  evils?  Does  she  show  any 
greater  regard  for  her  father  at  the  end  of  the  play  than 
at  the  beginning?  Snider  says  that  tenderness  rather  than 
truth  should  have  been  her  pride,  and  he  seems  to  blame 
her  because  she  is  'ready  to  sacrifice  her  share  of  the  king- 
dom, which  might  be  the  protection  of  her  parent  in  the 
future,  to  what  she  deems  truth  and  duty.  So  often,  the 
obstinate  adherence  to  a  moral  punctilio  jeopardizes  the 
greatest  interests,  even  institutions.'  What  do  you  think 
of  this?  Do  you  consider  the  interests  of  institutions  or  the 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  KING  LEAR         83 

will  of  a  parent  more  precious  than  individual  morality? 
The  same  writer  holds  that  Cordelia  develops,  that  when 
she  again  appears  her  character  is  developed,  the  ground 
of  the  changing  being  France's  wooing  and  the  experience 
of  love.  Does  Shakespeare  show  this,  or  is  it  a  mere  fancy 
of  Mr.  Snider's?  What  signs  of  love  are  there  between 
France  and  Cordelia  ?  Is  she  unsisterly  ?  Why  does  Cor- 
delia ask  when  she  and  Lear  are  captured — 'Shall  we  not 
see  these  daughters  and  these  sisters  ?'  Does  she  show  any 
sign  of  considering  that  her  own  future  lies  apart  from 
Lear's  mischance  and  defeat?  Does  Lear  take  it  for 
granted  without  reason  that  it  is  bound  up  with  his? 

4.  Topic. — Sonship  as  represented  by  Edgar  and  Ed- 
mund. 

Can  Edmund's  villainy  be  explained  by  his  circum- 
stances ?  Does  his  plot  proceed  from  a  proper  hatred  of  in- 
justice? Does  his  good  opinion  of  his  brother  Edgar  re- 
flect credit  upon  himself  or  does  it  aggravate  his  guilt? 
Does  his  cool  and  conscious  cleverness  and  lack  of  hypocrisy 
make  his  villainy  more  or  less  endurable?  Is  there  any- 
thing good  in  his  trickery  with  the  sisters?  Why  does 
Shakespeare  give  him  the  credit  for  wishing  to  do  one 
good  deed  ?  Is  it  consistent  ? 

Show  that  Edgar's  career  is  a  development  'from  blank 
innocence  to  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  world.'  Is 
Edgar's  deception  of  his  father  that  he  has  fallen  from  the 
cliff,  probable?  Is  it  excusable?  Why  did  he  not  make 
himself  known  to  his  father  sooner?  Why  did  they  not  go 
to  Dover  to  join  Cordelia's  army  instead  of  playing  their 
parts  in  the  cliff  episode?  This  is  dramatic  license,  per- 


84  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

haps. 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  Is  it  the  disloyalty  of  Gon- 
eril  and  Regan  that  brings  about  their  punishment,  or  their 
enmity  to  each  other? 

2.  How  far  should  one  person  hold  himself  morally  re- 
sponsible for  another?    Should  a  daughter's  responsibility 
go  further  than  a  father's? 

3.  Why  has  the  poet  made  the  battle  turn  against  Lear 
(changing  in  this  respect  both  from  history  and  the  old 
play)  ?    Is  the  change  due  to  patriotism — i.  e.  the  desire 
not  to  exhibit  France  as  victorious  over  England — or  to 
the  double  plot  which  is  best  resolved  by  showing  Lear 
and  Gloster  alike  defeated? 

5.  Topic. — The  Loyalty  of  Albany  and  Kent. 

Show  how  Loyalty  is  represented  in  the  contrast  of 
Albany  with  Kent.  Which  is  more  especially  the  King's 
friend?  Which  is  more  friend  to  the  King?  What  re- 
gard does  Lear  show  for  each,  and  how  does  each  return 
it?  Is  Albany  in  love  with  Goneril,  or  is  he  by  nature  as 
slow  as  Kent  is  quick?  Trace  Kent's  part  throughout  the 
play.  What  evidence  is  there  that  Cordelia's  interference 
at  last  on  Lear's  behalf  was  instigated  by  Kent?  Or  is  it 
rather  to  be  supposed  that  Kent  is  merely  her  agent?  Does 
he  do  more  harm  than  good  by  quarrelling  with  Oswald  ? 

Queries  for  Discussion:— i.  Is  Kent  the  ideal  character 
of  the  play? 

2.  Is  Albany's  weakness — I.  iv. — the  real  cause  of 
Goneril's  leadership  and  hence  of  her  contempt  for  him 
and  the  disasters  of  the  play? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH 
ACT  I — FORTUNE  TEMPTS 

Topic. — Macbeth's  'Day  of  Success.' 

Hints: — Are  there  any  surprises  in  'Macbeth'? — that 
is,  is  any  event  so  sudden  that  the  idea  of  it  is  not  intro- 
duced to  foreshadow  the  actual  fact? 

Examine  Act  I.  in  the  light  of  this  query,  noticing  what 
the  main  line  of  the  action  is,  and  how  it  is  led  up  to  in 
anticipation. 

In  stage-setting  alone — the  "bogge  and  filthie  ayre," 
the  "Thunder  and  Lightning," — I.  i.  is  at  once  significant 
of  the  nature  of  the  Play.  The  general  atmospheric  im- 
pression produced  makes  cosmic  nature  itself  a  sympathetic 
image  of  the  tragedy  in  general,  and  in  particular  of  the 
pending  battle  about  which  the  witches  are  talking,  and 
of  some  vaguely  felt  issue  hanging  upon  it  for  the  man 
whom  the  witches  are  proposing  to  meet  when  the  battle 
is  decided.  The  whole  scene  is  like  a  prologue  bearing  in 
it  the  mood  of  the  action  to  follow,  and  suggesting  broad- 
ly, also,  the  influence  of  environment  and  occasion  on  man, 
especially  upon  the  man  named — the  hero  of  the  drama — 
Macbeth. 

In  this  little  scene  the  Third  Witch  says  the  definite 
things.  She  declares  that  the  battle  will  be  decided  at 
sunset.  She  names  Macbeth  as  the  one  upon  whom  their 
agreement  to  meet  centres.  Is  this  an  indication  of  some 

8s 


86  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

intention  to  give  individual  character  to  the  witches?  It 
may  be  held  in  mind  for  comparison  with  their  later  ap- 
pearances to  see  whether  it  is  borne  out  or  not.  Is  it, 
rather,  simply  a  dramatic  device  for  bringing  out  effective- 
ly the  telltale  points? 

I.  ii.  is  taken  up  with  news  of  the  battle  which  I.  i. 
has  already  told  us  is  in  dispute.  The  news  brought  by  the 
first  messenger,  the  Serjeant,  is  incomplete:  the  mind  is 
by  his  report  only  half  relieved  from  the  desperate  state 
of  struggling  equilibrium  which  he  paints  with  the  turgid 
metaphors  of  a  strong  man  straining  every  nerve  to  tell 
his  exciting  story,  before  he  dies  of  the  bloody  gashes  he 
has  received  but  is  ignoring. 

It  takes  a  second  messenger,  Rosse,  to  complete  the  ac- 
count of  the  revolt;  and  the  breathlessness  which  marks 
the  scene,  quieted  down  with  the  surety  of  the  success  of 
the  king's  arms  over  the  rebellion  and  invasion,  is  shifted 
to  the  second  subject  of  suspense  and  interest,  already 
singled  out  by  the  witches — to  the  man  "disdayning  For- 
tune,"—"brave  Macbeth." 

The  event  of  this  scene — the  victory — is  thus  both  fore- 
shadowed and  left  hanging  in  doubt  from  the  first,  and 
from  Macbeth's  relation  to  it  comes  a  foreboding,  also 
awakened  by  the  witch  scene,  that  new  treason  may  grow. 

The  rally  of  the  witches  with  Macbeth  promised  in  the 
first  scene  is  left  to  be  taken  up.  All  that  was  sinister  in 
that  appointment  to  meet  him  on  the  heath  after  the  fate 
of  the  battle  was  decided,  is  developed  in  I.  iii. 

As  regards  the  witches  alone,  it  may  be  noticed  that 
here  again  the  third  witch  seems  to  be  the  one  most  intent 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH          87 

upon  Macbeth.  To  her  is  given  the  climax  in  their  greet- 
ing of  him.  She  hails  him  with  the  title  that  makes  him 
start.  By  the  strange  effect  of  that  greeting  upon  him 
this  scene  is  made  ominous  of  an  event  to  grow  out  of  the 
only  actual  fact  made  known  in  the  scene — namely  the  an- 
nouncement to  Macbeth  of  his  accession  to  the  place  of 
the  Thane  of  Cawdor.  Even  this  is  not  a  new  fact  in  it- 
self, but  only  as  to  its  announcement  to  Macbeth.  As  a 
fact  accomplished  it  belongs  to  the  preceding  scene. 

What  is  the  new  event,  then,  of  this  scene  which  con- 
stitutes a  fresh  step  in  the  plot  and  overshadows  Act  II.  ? 
Is  it  external  or  psychological? 

Contrast  the  effect  of  Rosse's  announcement  on  Banquo 
and  Macbeth.  What  light  do  their  remarks  throw  on  the 
situation  ? 

What  are  the  events  of  I.  iv.  ?  Is  there  nothing  new 
externally  except  the  announcement  of  the  king  that  he  be- 
queaths his  crown  to  his  eldest  son?  But  this  announce- 
ment brings  out  an  inner  eventfulness  of  far  more  import- 
ance. Macbeth's  preconceived  ambition  that  he  has  been 
brooding  over  and  that  the  witches  have  newly  roused,  is 
suddenly  revealed  in  its  worst  aspect  by  this  setback.  The 
clash  of  the  king's  announcement  with  his  secretly  cher- 
ished designs  is  like  a  glare  of  lightning  to  see  him  by  at 
the  instant  when  his  mind  is  leaping  to  attain  his  heart's 
desire,  at  any  cost,  despite  any  obstacle.  Of  course,  as  the 
kinsman  of  the  king  and  a  powerful  noble  he  might  have 
acceded  to  the  throne  of  Scotland  (which  was  not  then 
necessarily  hereditary)  without  violence,  if  the  king  had 
not  thus  declared  his  intention  to  secure  his  son's  succes- 


88  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

sion.  By  this  declaration,  Macbeth's  mind  is  driven  to 
the  general  idea  of  foul  play.  But  does  it  lead  him  to  any 
immediate  definite  plan  of  action? 

Is  there  any  indication  in  this  Scene  that  the  king's  next 
announcement  of  his  intention  to  honor  Macbeth  by  be- 
coming his  guest  at  Inverness  is  seized  upon  by  Macbeth 
as  convenient  for  his  ambitious  purpose?  Should  the  ac- 
tor of  the  part  here  show  by  implication  that  he  is  alive  to 
it?  Or  must  he  be  careful  lest  he  overact  here?  Ought 
he  to  make  this  scene  forebode  the  next,  but  without  an- 
ticipating it  so  far  as  to  interfere  with  the  effectiveness  of 
Lady  Macbeth's  first  appearance? 

In  I.  v.  the  king's  visit  to  Inverness  is  brought  out  in  all 
the  horrible  significance  of  its  fitness  to  tempt  and  serve 
Macbeth's  ambition.  But  it  is  brought  out  through  the 
effect  of  the  announcement  on  Lady  Macbeth.  Macbeth 
himself  seems  to  have  been  so  preoccupied  with  the  appar- 
ent check  to  his  ambition  when  Duncan  announced  Mal- 
colm as  his  heir  that  his  mind  failed  to  seize  the  "the 
neerest  way"  to  the  end  he  was  even  then  driven  to  avow 
to  himself.  Was  he  less  quick-witted  and  adroit  than 
Lady  Macbeth,  although  by  no  means  dependent  on  her 
for  evil  aims  and  suggestions? 

Is  the  measure  of  his  dependence  upon  her  shown  in  I. 
iv.  and  v.  to  be  the  debt  of  a  bad  intention  upon  intuition 
and  mental  grasp  of  the  situation,  i.  e.,  on  both  insight  and 
executive  plan  for  the  enterprise  that  will  consummate 
the  bad  deed  he  intends  ? 

What  does  I.  v.  accomplish?  Is  any  altogether  fresh 
fact  brought  to  light?  Is  Lady  Macbeth  herself  its  great 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH          89 

event?  The  scene  summarizes  all  that  has  gone  before, 
but  unfolds  its  implications  and  points  the  drift  of  the  ac- 
tion already  in  movement ;  and  it  apparently  does  this,  by 
making  us  see  the  whole  sharply  and  definitely  through 
Lady  Macbeth's  sensitive  response  to  Macbeth's  desires 
and  her  pitilessly  clear  logic  upon  the  convenient  oppor- 
tunity which  events  have  shaped  to  suit  them.  Show  in 
detail  how  the  scene  is  made  vividly  ominous  of  the  deed 
now  breathlessly  looming  ahead  of  them. 

The  next  scenes  (I.  vi.  and  vii)  take  on  swiftly  the 
necessary  intervening  action  of  small  happenings — the 
king's  arrival,  the  banquetting  time,  the  details  of  the 
plan  for  the  night.  Macbeth's  half-hearted  withdrawal 
from  his  resolution  is  dextrously  bound  up  with  the  ar- 
rangement of  these  details.  He  has  not  seen  how  to  do 
safely  and  effectively  what  he  wants  done  on  that  night, 
and  he  requires  Lady  Macbeth  to  screw  him  up  again,  not 
merely  by  heartening  him,  but  by  showing  him  a  feasible 
and  plausible  method.  Does  it  make  him  any  the  less  re- 
sponsible for  the  plot?  Does  his  executive  weakness  tempt 
her  and  elicit  all  her  power  for  evil  quite  as  much  as  her 
executive  ability  leads  him  on  ? 

How  does  the  influence  of  the  two  on  each  other  inten- 
sify the  impression  here  of  headlong  action? 

The  faltering  at  the  crucial  moment  of  Macbeth  as  the 
instrument  of  the  impending  deed  acts  like  a  cold  wind  on 
the  fire  of  Lady  Macbeth's  directing  force  to  make  it  glow 
more  fierily  and  powerfully.  Her  spiritual  energy  and 
practical  ability  in  this  way  soon  reacts  upon  Macbeth, 
who  adds  such  body  and  momentum  to  their -plot  that  as 


90  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

the  scene  closes  the  imagination  of  the  audience  or  the 
reader  rushes  on  irresistibly  toward  the  foreshadowed 
murder. 

Sum  up  the  actual  events  of  Act  I.,  on  the  one  side ;  and, 
on  the  other,  the  subjective  events,  so  to  speak,  and  contrast 
their  influence  on  the  plot  and  their  bearing  on  each  other. 

ACT  II.— THE  DBBD 

Topic. — Fitness  of  Time  and  Place. 

Hints : — From  Banquo's  remarks  to  Fleance  at  the  open- 
ing of  this  Act,  do  you  get  the  impression  that  he  already 
suspects  that  Macbeth  will  use  violent  means  to  bring 
about  the  fulfilment  of  the  witches'  prophecy?  Is  he  more 
afraid  of  what  he  may  be  tempted  to  do  himself  to  help  on 
the  prophecy  in  his  own  behalf,  or  is  he  already  fearful  lest 
he  and  his  son  might  also  become  the  victims  of  Macbeth's 
ambition?  Are  his  remarks  to  Macbeth  about  the  king 
perfectly  ingenious  or  is  he  trying  Macbeth  in  order  to  dis- 
cover if  possible  his  intentions  toward  the  king?  Are  Mac- 
beth's replies  made  only  with  the  intention  of  putting 
Banquo  off  the  scent,  or  does  he  also  intend  to  throw  out  a 
bribe  to  Banquo  and  insure  his  silence  upon  whatever  may 
happen,  when  he  promises  "honor"  to  Banquo  if  he  shall 
"cleave"  to  his  "consent"  ? 

Would  the  audience  be  fooled  by  Macbeth  in  this  scene 
if  it  were  not  in  the  secret?  How  has  it  been  put  in  the 
secret?  Since  it  is  in  the  secret  as  to  the  intentions  of 
Macbeth,  what  purpose  does  this  scene  and  the  dagger 
speech  serve,  unless  it  be  to  reveal  the  characters  of  the 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH          91 

actors  by  hints  and  previsions  of  what  is  going  on  within 
their  minds?  Does  the  fascination  of  this  short  scene  de- 
pend largely  upon  the  fact  that  it  would  be  possible  to  in- 
terpret in  more  than  one  way  the  inner  workings  of  these 
two  men's  minds?  The  dagger  speech  besides  revealing 
Macbeth's  mood  tells  the  audience  that  the  deed  is  about 
to  be  accomplished.  What  arrangements  had  Macbeth  and 
Lady  Macbeth  made  to  insure  its  successful  accomplish- 
ment as  implied  in  the  talk  and  action  though  not  indi- 
cated directly? 

After  the  murder  in  II.  ii.  do  you  get  the  impression  that 
it  is  physical  revulsion  rather  than  moral  horror  at  his 
deed  that  unnerves  Macbeth?  Does  Lady  Macbeth's 
strength  appear  in  this  scene  to  be  due  entirely  to  her 
greater  heartlessness,  or  to  a  determination  to  counteract 
the  effects  of  her  husband's  weakness,  and  to  save  the  day 
for  him? 

Does  the  scene  with  the  porter  serve  the  double  purpose 
of  relieving  the  tense  strain  upon  the  nerves  of  the  audi- 
ence, and  of  reminding  them  that  the  little  petty  events 
of  life  go  on  in  their  dull  and  even  tenor  while  dark  and 
terrible  deeds  are  being  accomplished?  Or  is  it  chiefly 
effective  as  a  means  for  bringing  home  to  the  two  guilty 
ones  the  fact  that  henceforth  they  will  be  outcast  from 
that  world  which  breaks  in  upon  their  crime  so  carelessly, 
yet  so  dull  to  the  latent  power  of  retribution  which  will 
one  day  be  their  undoing?  By  the  end  of  this  act  has  the 
consummation  of  the  deed  produced  any  moral  effects  for 
better  or  worse  upon  either  Macbeth  or  Lady  Macbeth? 
Or  do  we  find  them  simply  following  a  blind  human  im- 


92  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

pulse  to  save  themselves  from  detection  ?  Which  of  them 
overacts  the  most  and  why? 

While  the  moral  action  of  the  play  may  be  said  to  be 
in  poise,  now,  (II.  iii.)  in  Macbeth  and  Lady  Macbeth, 
with  their  ambition  attained,  the  counter  forces  at  once 
begin  to  make  themselves  apparent. 

Point  out  what  these  are  shown  to  be  in  Scenes  iii.  and 
iv.  If  Malcolm  and  Donalbane  had  not  fled  would  the 
murder  of  Duncan  have  accomplished  anything?  Are 
there  good  and  sufficient  reasons  why  they  should  flee?  Do 
they  or  any  one  else  show  suspicion  of  Macbeth?  Is  there 
anything  to  show  that  either  Macbeth  or  Lady  Macbeth 
had  thought  of  the  complications  that  might  arise  through 
Malcolm  and  Donalbane? — or  that  they  had  thought  of 
the  possibility  that  suspicion  would  point  to  them  ?  In  point 
of  fact  did  not  circumstances  to  which  they  had  given  no 
thought  help  them  in  the  attainment  of  their  end  just  as 
much  as  their  own  deed?  Is  this  a  weakness  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  plot,  or  is  it  supremely  true  to  life  ?  Is  a 
criminal  likely  to  take  in  all  the  aspects  of  the  deed  he 
commits? 

ACT  III. — FATE  CHALLENGED 

Topic.— -The  "barren  Scepter." 

Hints: The  consequences  of  the  deed  done  in  Act 

II.  begin  to  unfold  significantly  in  Act  III.  The  first  con- 
sequence shown  is  the  effect  upon  Macbeth's  mind  when 
established  as  king,  of  the  witches'  prophecy  concerning 
Banquo's  descendants. 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH          93 

His  hostile  intention  toward  Banquo  and  Fleance  ap- 
pears darkly,  although  significantly,  first  in  III.  i.,  openly 
in  III.  ii.,  and  the  result  of  his  ill  will  is  tersely,  indeed 
spectacularly  presented  in  III.  iii. ;  while  the  remaining 
scenes  are  again  devoted  to  the  consequences  of  this  new 
deed.  And  these  consequences  are  first  shown  in  action, 
as  before,  on  Macbeth's  mind  in  III.  iv.,  and  then,  III. 
v.,  in  reflex  influence  on  the  trend  of  fate  itself  as  repre- 
sented by  the  witches,  and  finally  in  III.  vi.,  upon  his  sub- 
jects, as  represented  by  the  talk  of  Lenox  about  the  flight 
of  Fleance,  the  similar  flight  of  Malcolm  and  Donalbane, 
and  finally  in  the  talk  about  Macduff  as  of  one  through 
whose  daring  fresh  evil  or  good  are  pretended.  These 
scenes  foreshadow  all  that  follows  in  fact  or  in  anticipa- 
tion throughout  the  action  of  Act  IV.  as  regards  Macbeth 
the  witches,  and  Macduff 's  family;  they  also  darkly  sug- 
gest MacdufFs  possible  revenge. 

Is  the  reflex  action  of  Macbeth's  deeds  on  fate  itself, 
i.  e.,  his  proposition  to  call  fate  into  the  lists,  to  circum- 
vent prophecy  and  control  destiny  in  his  own  interest,  the 
important  event  of  Act  III.;  or  is  its  most  important 
event  Banquo's  murder?  If  the  actual  fact  of  the  murder 
and  the  attempt  to  kill  Fleance  has  a  less  fundamental 
bearing  on  the  progress  of  the  action  than  the  determina- 
tion of  Macbeth's  mind  against  them,  is  it  to  be  concluded 
that  Shakespeare  virtually  makes  Macbeth's  soul  the  real 
stage  of  the  action,  and  so  in  this  play  closely  approaches 
the  method  characteristic  of  the  so-called  "modern"  psy- 
chological drama? 

It  might  be  argued  that  while  Banquo's  murder  was  not 


94  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

so  important  to  the  action  here,  as  Macbeth's  attempt  to 
circumvent  fate  by  murdering  him  and  Fleance,  the  escape 
of  Fleance  was  the  external  fact  of  central  importance. 
But  it  must  be  noticed  that  this  fact  is  dramatically  inef- 
fective. Nothing  comes  of  it,  Fleance  is  not  heard  of 
again,  he  bears  no  witness  against  Macbeth  and  no  ven- 
geance comes  through  him.  His  escape  is  made  a  symbol 
instead  of  an  instrument  of  Macbeth's  failure  to  control 
fate  by  external  means.  And  the  main  line  of  movement 
in  the  Play  is  therefore  the  launching  of  Macbeth  in  the 
Act  into  the  full  stream  of  the  struggle  between  himself 
and  the  powers  of  fate  which  he  has  challenged. 

Fate,  on  her  side,  in  the  person  of  Hecate,  accepts  the 
challenge  in  sc.  v.,  where  she  appears  as  the  commander 
of  the  witches  and  as  one  who  has  the  power  to  lead  their 
external  jugglery  with  Macbeth  into  supernatural  and 
prophetic  realms  of  influence. 

ACT  IV— FATE  DECEIVES 

Topic.— Taking  "a  Bond  of  Fate." 

Hints: — The  Act  opens  with  the  witch  scene  that  has 
already  been  prepared  for  in  Act  III  by  Hecate.  The  ap- 
pearance of  the  witches  here  may  be  compared  with  that 
in  Act  I  as  being  far  more  gruesome  and  suggestive  of 
evil.  Then,  they  appeared  simply  as  the  announcers  of 
Fate;  now,  they  are  joined  by  a  sort  of  Nemesis  in  the  per- 
son of  Hecate,  who  not  only  knows  the  course  of  fate,  but 
is  also  an  active  force  for  evil  and  takes  delight  in  mis- 
leading Macbeth  with  dissembling  visions,  scaring  him 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH          95 

with  baneful  prophecies,  and  leading  him  on  in  his  path  of 
evil. 

Was  not  Macbeth  on  his  first  meeting  with  the  witches 
a  free  agent,  still  able  in  spite  of  his  ambitious  aims  to 
choose  the  right  course?  Now  he  has  by  his  own  actions 
sold  himself  to  evil,  and  evil  in  the  semblance  of  Hecate 
can  lead  him  whither  she  will  for  his  own  utter  undoing. 
Are  the  witches  just  as  actively  on  the  side  of  evil  as  He- 
cate, but  without  her  controlling  power? 

At  the  beginning  of  this  Act,  then,  we  see  the  result  of 
Macbeth's  helping  on  his  fate  by  evil  means,  namely,  his 
fate  has  become  one  with  evil,  and  just  as  when  fate  was 
favorable  to  him,  he  worked  to  bring  about  its  prophecies 
now  that  it  prophesies  things  unfavorable,  he  determines 
to  defy  it.  Does  the  scene  of  the  witches  brewing  the 
broth  in  the  cauldron  serve  as  a  vivid  symbol  of  the  gath- 
ering powers  of  evil  which  will  finally  be  the  undoing  of 
Macbeth  ? 

How  are  Macbeth's  actions  influenced  by  his  last  meet- 
ing with  the  witches  ?  Does  it  show  lack  of  wisdom  on  his 
part  so  openly  to  avow  his  intention  of  putting  MacdufFs 
wife  and  children  to  the  sword,  or  does  he  imagine  he  will 
be  considered  justified  because  of  MacdufFs  defection,  or 
is  he  determined  to  cow  every  one  into  subjection  by  openly 
showing  his  hand  as  a  tyrant,  or  is  he  simply  rendered  reck- 
less by  the  double  dealing  of  fate  which  assures  him  at  the 
same  time  of  personal  security  and  yet  warns  him  of  Mac- 
duff? 

Does  the  scene  in  which  Macduff's  wife  and  children 
are  murdered  have  any  bearing  upon  the  development  of 


96  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

the  dramatic  motive?  Observe  that  in  it  Macbeth 's  cru- 
elty is  presented  in  its  most  intensive  form.  Compare  the 
three  murder  scenes,  showing  how  the  first  is  done  out 
of  sight  of  the  audience,  while  the  feelings  of  Macbeth 
before  and  after  are  shown  very  intimately  to  the  audience. 
In  the  second  one,  the  murder  is  shown  directly,  but  the 
victims  come  upon  the  scene  only  momentarily  and  then 
disappear,  while  the  feelings  of  Macbeth,  though  indicated, 
are  not  shown  so  intimately.  In  the  third,  the  cruelty  of 
the  murder  is  emphasized  through  the  audience  being  put 
in  sympathy  with  the  victims  by  a  pathetic  domestic  scene, 
while  the  murderers  appear  simply  as  slaughterers.  Of 
Macbeth's  feelings,  we  see  nothing;  that  is,  Macbeth  has 
been  moved  entirely  without  the  range  of  the  sympathy 
of  the  audience,  and  the  victims  have  been  brought  within 
its  range.  The  cruelty  of  the  murder  is  still  more  empha- 
sized by  the  fact  that  the  victims  are  not  in  any  way  di- 
rectly dangerous  to  Macbeth. 

How  can  MacdufFs  leaving  his  wife  and  children  un- 
protected be  explained?  Is  it  simply  demanded  by  the 
exigencies  of  the  plot,  or  are  there  good  and  sufficient  ac- 
tual reasons  why  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  take  this 
step? 

In  IV.  iii.,  the  forces  of  retribution  began  to  gather 
strength.  Is  anything  gained  by  the  doubts  cast  upon 
Macduff  both  by  his  wife  and  Malcolm  ?  Do  they  simply 
emphasize  the  extent  of  Macbeth's  cruelty  and  machina- 
tions first,  by  showing  that  MacdufFs  only  possible  hope 
was  in  fleeing  to  England  for  help,  not  only  for  Scotland 
but  for  the  protection  of  his  home,  which  he  could  no 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH          97 

longer  defend  single  handed;  second,  by  showing  what 
plots  Macbeth  had  laid  in  order  to  get  Malcolm  into 
his  power  ? 

Does  the  entrance  of  the  Doctor  in  this  scene,  and  his 
talk  about  the  curse  effected  by  the  pious  Edward  serve  any 
purpose  whatever  in  the  plot?  Do  they  symbolize  or  pre- 
figure England's  intervention? 

Taken  as  a  whole  may  this  scene  be  said  to  represent 
the  quiet  gathering  of  the  forces  that  arc  to  overwhelm 
Macbeth,  its  slow  movement  like  the  sullen  pause  which 
precedes  the  outbreak  of  a  storm,  while,  to  carry  the  simile 
farther,  the  news  of  the  murder  of  Macduff's  wife  and 
children,  is  the  lightning  flash  that  lets  loose  the  storm 
in  all  its  fury. 

ACT  V. — FATE  CONQUERS 

Topic.— The  "Bloody  Head." 

Hints : — Act  V.  brings  home  to  Macbeth  and  his  "part- 
ner of  greatness"  the  triumph  of  the  fate  they  themselves 
have  given  its  power  over  them.  This  triumph  is  por- 
trayed as  asserting  itself  first  over  Lady  Macbeth,  secretly, 
through  its  effect  upon  her  mind. 

How  she  has  miscalculated  her  own  strength  to  act 
ruthlessly  is  shown  in  V.  i.  She  is  revealed  in  the  sleep- 
walking scene  as  one  of  that  class  of  believers  in  evil  whose 
error  is  most  of  all  against  human  nature.  The  heart  and 
brain  she  thought  could  be  bent  upon  any  design  by  her 
own  will  rebel  through  their  own  soundness  and  delicacy. 
Is  it  likely,  judging  by  this  scene  alone,  that  her  final 


98  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

death  by  suicide  is  the  end  Shakespeare  meant  for  her  as 
the  most  characteristic  and  artistic  consummation  of  her 
part? 

Is  the  announcement  of  her  death  "by  self  and  violent 
hands"  (V.  viii.  79)  foreshadowed  in  this  scene?  What 
lines  of  V.  i.  give  the  hint  ? 

Does  the  drama  show  that  her  heart  and  her  head  have 
been  equally  distressed  in  secret,  by  the  violence  she  has 
done  to  her  capacity  for  goodness  ?  That  is,  does  she  reach 
the  condition  in  which  this  scene  unveils  her,  through  her 
head, — by  seeing,  finally,  how  endless  are  the  consequences 
of  a  violent  deed,  entailing  ever  new  risks  and  chances  of 
ruin  for  the  sake  of  security  in  power?  Or  do  you  think, 
that  she  has  reached  remorse  through  her  squeamish  heart 
which  has  not  been  able  to  share  in  blood  without  an 
irresistible  shrinking  and  physical  horror  that  has  swal- 
lowed up  her  command  of  her  own  consciousness  ? 

What  light  do  the  speeches  which  Shakespeare  gives  the 
"Gentlewoman"  in  her  talk  with  the  Doctor  in  this  scene, 
throw  upon  Lady  Macbeth  *s  character?  Are  they  meant 
to  reflect  the  view  of  normal  womanhood  ?  Is  Lady  Mac- 
beth meant  to  appear  by  contrast  with  such  a  type,  or  as 
essentially  of  the  same  type  ? 

Is  the  anguish  and  death  of  Lady  Macbeth  necessary  to 
the  plot  externally,  either  through  its  influence  upon  Mac- 
beth or  upon  his  subjects  by  acquainting  them  with  the  foul 
play  and  rousing  rebellion  ?  Or,  is  it  necessary  to  the  plot, 
internally, — as  an  element  contributing  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  destiny  and  retribution  ? 

The  powers  of  fate  are  shown  in  V.  ii.  as  about  to  cen- 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH          99 

tre  externally  upon  Macbeth  and  force  a  hard-fought  retri- 
bution by  actual  deeds.  Does  V.  iii.  show  that  Macbeth 
is  in  any  respect  privately  open,  as  Lady  Macbeth  was 
open,  through  a  misgiving  heart  to  the  impending  triumph 
of  fate  over  him  ?  Is  any  such  feeling  of  insecurity  positive 
enough — external  enough — to  conquer  his  soul?  His 
obduracy  may  be  a  sign  of  his  obtuseness  or  of  his  super- 
stitious faith  in  the  oracle.  Which  is  it? 

What  effect  is  produced  by  the  representation  of  Mac- 
beth in  III.  as  being  so  irritated  by  the  Doctor's  answer 
to  his  question  if  medicine  can  help  a  "mind  diseased"? 
Why  is  he  so  sensitive  to  the  force  of  the  Doctor's  reply 
— that  to  such  sorrows  the  patient  must  minister  to  him- 
self ?  Does  it  suggest  that  Macbeth  is  cut  by  a  haunting 
suspicion  he  wishes  not  to  entertain — that  his  deliverance 
from  his  heart-sickness  cannot  be  won  by  external  aid  ? 

Does  Macbeth's  talk  with  the  messenger  as  to  the  Eng- 
lish force  reveal  his  grosser  fears,  his  talk  with  the  Doc- 
tor about  Lady  Macbeth,  his  finer  ones? 

Scene  iv.  brings  one  stage  nearer  the  outward  instru- 
ments fate  is  using, — Malcolm,  Macduff,  and  the  English 
army.  How  does  this  scene  identify  the  advance  of  the 
army  with  the  prophecy  ? 

Scene  v.  is  made  to  show  through  its  exposition  of  Mac- 
beth's alternately  benumbed  and  desperate  moods,  both  the 
imminence  of  his  defeat  and  the  stings  of  his  own  fore- 
bodings of  the  evil  due  him.  Does  he  show  his  weakness 
most  by  his  apathy  or  by  his  violence? 

The  last  shreds  of  the  mask  Fate  has  worn  in  order  to 
lure  him  on  are  cast  aside  in  scenes  vi.  and  vii.  What  is 


ioo          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

the  bearing  of  the  lines— "Why  should  I  play  the  Roman 
Foole  and  dye  On  mine  owne  sword?"  (V.  viii.  2-3) 
Did  he  virtually,  in  an  inner  sense,  die  finally  as  a  result  of 
his  own  sword's  thrust  against  another?  In  murdering 
Duncan,  did  he  as  good  as  kill  himself,  if  he  only  knew  it  ? 
Would  suicide  have  shown  that  his  conscience  had  power 
over  him  to  accuse  him  of  killing  another  in  order  to  gain 
an  advantage  for  himself?  Did  Lady  Macbeth's  suicide 
show  that  hers  had  such  power? 

Is  either  his  suicide,  or  Macduff's  success  in  killing  him, 
dramatically  called  for  by  the  construction  of  the  play? 
Which  best  suits  it,  and  why? 

Is  the  bringing  in  upon  the  stage  of  Macbeth's  "bloody 
head"  a  necessary  incident  of  the  close  of  the  play,  be- 
cause it  fulfills  the  oracle,  or  because  it  is  a  fitting  end  of 
Macbeth's  story  and  a  perfect  sequel  in  its  likeness  and  con- 
trast with  the  end  of  his  "partner  of  greatness"? 

MOOT  POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

I.  How  far  is  the  Action  of  the  Play  shaped  by  the 
Witches? 

"The  first  thought  of  acceding  to  the  throne  is  sug- 
gested and  success  in  the  attempt  is  promised  to  Macbeth 
by  the  witches;  he  is,  therefore,  represented  as  a  man 
whose  natural  temper  would  have  deterred  him  from  such 
a  design  if  he  had  not  been  immediately  tempted  and 
strongly  impelled  to  it."  (Whateley's  "Remarks  on  Some 
Characters  of  Shakespeare,"  1785). 

"The  power  of  the  weird  sisters  is  nowhere  exhibited 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        101 

as  absolute,  but  always  as  relative.  It  is  shown  to  depend 
upon  what  in  a  man's  soul  has  affinities  for  that  power. 
Where  these  affinities  do  not  exist  their  power  is  naught." 
(Corson's  "Introduction  to  Shakespeare,"  1890). 

Can  these  two  opposite  views  be  reconciled  as  the  nat- 
ural results  of  an  evolution  of  thought  which  at  first  re- 
garded temptation  as  from  an  anthropomorphic  devil,  and 
later  as  the  prompting  of  a  bad  conscience  ?  Which  is  the 
point  of  view  Shakespeare  is  likelier  to  have  had  ?  Is  it  a 
mistake  to  suppose  his  mind  confined  to  the  level  of  most 
of  his  contemporaries? 

OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

1.  Banquo's   reception   of   the  witches  contrasts  with 
Macbeth's  and  illustrates  Corson's  opinion. 

2.  Banquo   stands   in   the   same   evil   relation   to   the 
witches  as  Macbeth,    and    his    position    towards    them, 
though  different,  is  guilty. 

II.  Do  the  Witches  ever  really  Prophesy?  Or  is  the 
Plot  only  illustrated  by  their  Revelations? 

If  their  revelations  are  merely  reflections  of  what  is  in 
Macbeth's  mind,  how  can  the  apparition  of  the  armed 
head  (supposed  to  be  the  revolt  against  Macbeth)  of  the 
bloody  child  (the  image  of  Macduff's  birth),  of  the 
crowned  child  with  the  tree  in  its  hand  (prophetic  of  the 
"moving  wood"),  be  explained? 

But,  in  order  to  have  sought,  must  not  Macbeth  first 
have  needed  the  assurances  the  apparitions  gave?  Must 


102  ;       'SHXki^P^ARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

he  not  have  been  led  to  apprehend  defeat,  by  his  bitterness 
iii  being  childless,  and  by  his  dread  of  Macduff  and  of  the 
Prince  of  Cumberland,  before  he  could  be  drawn  on  to 
"spurne  Fate,  scorne  Death,  and  beare  His  hopes  'bove 
Wisdome,  Grace,  and  Feare?"  (III.  v.  33.) 

PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

1.  Macbeth 's  mind  was  not  open  enough  to  understand 
these  apparitions;  therefore  he  could  not  have  prefigured 
them. 

2.  The  apparitions  are  symbols  of  Macbeth's  own  po- 
tentiality; for  it  is  his  own  dissevered  head  that  bids  him 
beware  Macduff,  still  it  is  not  Macduff  of  whom  he  must 
really  beware,  but  himself;  the  bloody  child  declares  that 
none  of  woman  born  shall  harm  him,  still  it  was  not  Mac- 
duff's  untimely  birth  that  makes  him  dangerous  to  Mac- 
beth, but  the  wrongs  he  has  himself  done  the  thane  of 
Fife;  the  crowned  child  with  the  tree  warns  him  of  his 
peril  when  Birnam  wood  shall  come  to  Dunsinane,  still 
it  is  not  the  "moving  wood"  but  the  murdered  Duncan's 
son  who  brings  Macbeth  to  his  confusion.    All  these  fore- 
shadowing are  then  really  spectral  shows  of  the  actual 
facts  and  causes  in  Macbeth's  character  and  deeds. 

OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

i.  Macbeth's  mind  was  not  open  enough  to  understand 
these  apparitions;  therefore  he  could  not  have  prefigured 
them,  and  this  proves  that  the  witches  are  meant  to  be 
real,  and  that  they  not  only  illustrate  but  create  the  plot 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        103 

2.  The  character  of  a  man  is  his  history,  says  Goethe. 
From  such  a  conception  of  destiny  the  plot  and  structure  of 
Shakespeare's  'Macbeth'  arise. 

III.   WAS  BANQUO  GUILTY? 

"Banquo  was  as  deep  in  the  murder  of  the  king,  as  some 
of  the  Scottish  writers  inform  us*  as  Macbeth.  But 
Shakespeare,  with  great  art  and  address,  deviates  from  the 
history.  By  these  means  his  characters  have  the  greater 
variety,  and  he  at  the  same  time  pays  a  compliment  to  King 
James,  who  was  lineally  descended  from  Banquo."  (Up- 
ton, "Critcal  Remarks  on  Shakespeare,"  1746.) 

"Banquo  appears  to  have  been  specially  designed  as  a 
counter  agency  to  the  agency  of  the  weird  sisters  .  .  . 
and  as  a  support  or  encouragement  to  Macbeth's  free 
agency  if  he  chose  to  assert  it."  (Corson,  "Introduction  to 
Shakespeare,"  1890.) 

Does  Banquo  show  his  complicity  with  Macbeth  by  sub- 
mission to  the  oracle,  or  his  innocence  by  his  indifference  to 
its  promise?  Why  does  Banquo  give  up  his  sword  when 
he  has  'cursed  thoughts,'  and  cannot  sleep,  and  has  cause 
to  fear — as  he  afterward  says  he  does  fear — that  Macbeth 
will  play  'most  foully'  ?  Was  this  part  of  what  Macbeth 
calls  that  'wisdom  that  doth  guide  his  valor  to  act  in 
safety'?  (III.  i.)  Why  does  Macduff  refuse  to  go  to 
Scone  to  see  Macbeth  crowned?  Is  he  franker  than 
Banquo  ? 


*For  Shakespeare's  Literary  Material  see  Second  Sec- 
tion "Shakespeare  Studies — Macbeth"  by  the  Authors. 


104          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

That  Banquo  was  not  guilty  of  intentional  complicity 
with  Macbeth  in  helping  him  to  the  throne  is  sufficiently 
shown  by  Macbeth's  fear  of  him  (III.  i) ;  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  prophecy  as  to  Banquo's  issue  would 
alone  be  enough  to  make  Macbeth  suspicious  of  him  and 
account  him  an  obstacle,  even  if  he  did  not  think  him  good ; 
and  the  caution  and  silence  passively  helping  Macbeth's 
accession  (though  Banquo  may  have  been  merely  biding 
the  best  time  to  unmask  Duncan's  murderer)  show  him 
to  be  not  so  'unco'  guid'  as  'unco'  canny.' 

OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

1.  'Banquo's  sympathy  with,   nay,  complicity   in,   the 
murder  of  Duncan  is  made  perfectly  clear.     .     .     .     The 
poet  transforms  Banquo's  crime  into  one  which  consists 
in  remaining  silent,  in  refusing  to  act.'     (Flathe,  'Shakes- 
peare in  seiner  Wirklichkeit,'  Furness's  Variorum.     See 
also  'Banquo,'  by  Colin  S.   Buell,  Poet-lore,  Vol.   XI. 
No.  i.) 

2.  'Banquo,   as   Macbeth   admits,   is  noble,   wise  and 
brave.     .     .     .     The    greater    and    happier    fortune    of 
Banquo  did  not  consist  alone  or  chiefly  in  the  sovereignty 
that  was  to  come  to  his  descendants.     .     .     .     Moreover, 
to  make  Banquo  bad  would  destroy  the  artistic  balance 
of  the  drama.    The  royal  pair  of  criminals,  "magnificent 
in  sin,"  need  no  iniquitous  rivals  near  the  infernal  throne. 
Banquo  is  wanted  on  the  other  side.'      ('Was  Banquo 
Bad?'  by  W.  J.  Rolfe,  Poet-lore,  Vol.  XI.  No.  3.) 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        105 
IV.   WHY  DOES  LADY  MACBETH  FAINT? 

'In  II.  iii.  115-122  .  .  .  on  Lady  Macbeth's  seem- 
ing to  faint,  while  Banquo  and  Macduff  are  solicitous 
about  her,  Macbeth,  by  his  unconcern,  betrays  a  con- 
sciousness that  the  fainting  is  feigned.'  (Whateley,  'Re- 
marks on  Some  Characters  of  Shakespeare,'  1785.) 

'Most  editors  suppose  this  fainting  fit  to  be  a  pretence, 
but  I  am  convinced  that  Shakespeare  meant  it  to  be  real. 
Various  causes  have  cooperated  to  beget  in  Lady  Macbeth 
a  revulsion  of  feeling,  which,  from  henceforth  constantly 
increasing,  drives  her  at  last  to  self-destruction.'  (Bo- 
denstedt,  'Macbeth,'  1867.) 

'Macbeth  was  alone,  facing  the  grooms  still  heavy  with 
their  drugged  sleep,  and  knowing  that  in  another  mo- 
ment they  would  be  aroused  and  telling  their  tale:  the 
sense  of  crisis  proves  too  much  for  him,  and  under  an 
ungovernable  impulse,  he  stabs  them.  He  thus  wrecks  the 
whole  scheme.  How  perfectly  Lady  Macbeth's  plan 
would  have  served,  if  it  had  been  left  to  itself,  is  shown 
by  Lennox's  account  of  ...  the  grooms.  .  .  . 
Nothing,  it  is  true,  can  be  finer  than  the  way  in  which 
Macbeth  seeks  to  cover  his  mistake.  .  .  .  But  . 

.  .  his  efforts  are  in  vain,  and  at  the  end  of  his  speech 
we  feel  that  there  has  arisen  in  the  company  ...  the 
indescribable  effect  known  as  a  'sensation' ;  and  we  listen 
for  some  one  to  speak  some  word  that  shall  be  irrevocable. 
The  crisis  is  acute,  but  Lady  Macbeth  comes  to  the  rescue 
and  faints!  .  .  .  there  is  at  once  a  diversion.'  (Moul- 
ton,  'Shakespeare  as  a  Dramatic  Artist,'  i! 


106          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

'The  dramatist  had  his  reasons  for  causing  Macbeth's 
hypocritically  poetic  description  of  the  scene  of  the  mur- 
der to  be  thus  publicly  delivered  in  the  presence  of  her 
whose  hands  have  had  so  large  a  share  in  giving  it  that 
particular  aspect.  It  lends  double  force  to  this  most 
characteristic  trait  of  Macbeth's  deportment,  that  he 
should  not  be  moved,  even  by  his  lady's  presence,  from 
delivering  his  affectedly  indignant  description  of  that 
bloody  spectacle,  in  terms  which  must  so  vividly  recall  to 
her  mind's  eye  the  sickening  objects  which  his  own  moral 
cowardice  had  compelled  her  to  gaze  upon.  His  words 
draw  from  Lady  Macbeth  the  instant  exclamation,  "Help 
me  hence,  ho!"  ...  It  is  remarkable  that,  upon 
her  exclamation  of  distress,  Macduff,  and  shortly  after 
Banquo,  cries  out,  "Look  to  the  lady";  but  that  we  find 
not  the  smallest  sign  of  attention  paid  to  her  situation  by 
Macbeth  himself,  who,  arguing  from  his  own  character 
to  hers,  might  regard  it  merely  as  a  dexterous  feigning  on 
her  part.'  (Fletcher,  'Studies  of  Shakespeare,'  1847.) 

Lady  Macbeth's  energy  of  mind  and  will  give  her  her 
prompt  remorse  and  piteous  reaction  of  feeling.  They 
give  her  also  her  early  ascendency  over  her  husband ;  and 
his  consciousness  of  this  and  emulation  of  her  force  of 
character  bring  about  their  reversal  of  position,  of  which 
her  swoon  and  his  daring,  if  not  foolhardy  act  in  this 
scene  are  signs.  Note  his  repetitions  of  her  earlier  coun- 
sels,— her  'When  you  durst  do  it,  then  you  were  a  man,' 
etc.,  I.  vii.  47,  and  his  'Now,  if  you  have  a  station  in  the 
file,  Not  in  the  worst  rank  of  manhood,'  etc.  (III.  i.  101 ), 
her  'Art  thou  afeard  To  be  the  same  in  thine  own  act 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        107 

.  .  .  as  thou  art  in  desire?'  etc.  (I.  vii.  39-45),  and 
his  from  hence  'The  very  firstlings  of  my  heart  shall  be 
The  firstlings  of  my  hand'  (IV.  i.  145-150);  and  find 
similar  echoes.  That  Macbeth's  hallucinations  are  wak- 
ing, and  his  wife's  somnambulistic,  indicates  her  greater 
self-control.  Her  command  of  her  consciousness  weak- 
ens only  when  she  is  physically  unhinged,  'caught  napping, 
as  it  were. 

OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

'Macbeth's  remorse  constitutes  the  element  of  horror  in 
the  play.  Almost  as  much  pity  is  felt  for  the  murderer 
as  for  his  victim.  The  true  title  of  the  tragedy  might  be 
crime,  remorse,  and  expiation.  Lady  Macbeth  alone  ap- 
pears to  stand  outside  the  pale  of  morality.  .  .  .  All 
the  great  crimes  in  Shakespeare  are  inspired  by  wicked 
women ;  men  may  execute,  but  cannot  conceive  them.  The 
creature  of  sentiment  is  more  depraved  than  the  man  of 
crime.  ...  In  committing  the  murder  Macbeth  suc- 
cumbed to  a  strength  of  depravity  superior  to  his  own. 
This  strength  of  depravity  is  the  ardent  imagination  of 
his  wife.  .  .  .  [His]  is  the  weakness  of  a  strong 
man  opposed  to  the  seductions  of  a  perverted  woman.' 
(Lamartine,  'Shakespeare  et  son  Oeuvre,'  1865,  quoted 
by  Furness.) 

'She  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  She  is  of  a  proud,  ardent 
nature,  a  brave,  consistent,  loving  woman,  that  derives  her 
courageous  consistency  from  the  depths  of  her  affection, 
absorbed  in  her  husband's  life  and  pursuits ;  and  after  the 


io8          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

first  steps  in  crime  sinks  under  the  burden  of  guilt  heaped 
upon  her  soul.'  (F.  A.  Leo,  'Macbeth,'  1871,  quoted  by 
Furness.) 

'The  original  choice  for  evil  has  for  both  been  made  by 
Macbeth.  .  .  .  The  exact  key  to  her  character  is 
given  by  regarding  her  as  the  antithesis  of  her  husband, 
and  an  embodiment  of  the  inner  life  and  culture  so  mark- 
edly wanting  in  him.  She  has  had  the  feminine  lot  of  be- 
ing shut  out  from  active  life,  and  her  genius  and  energy 
have  been  turned  inwards;  her  soul — like  her  "little 
hand" — is  not  hardened  for  the  working-day  world,  but 
is  quick,  delicate,  sensitive.'  (Moulton.) 

V.  How  DID  LADY  MACBETH  LOOK? 

'Her  whole  appearance  ought  to  be  royal,  as  one  for 
whose  powerful  features  and  majestic  bearing  the  diadem 
is  the  befitting  adornment.  Her  countenance  ought  to  dis- 
play noble  and  energetic  outlines,  from  whose  every  fea- 
ture mean  desires  are  banished ;  it  should  presage  demoniac 
forces,  with  never  a  trace  of  moral  ugliness  nor  aught  re- 
pellent. The  glittering  eye  betrays  the  restless,  busy 
ardor  of  the  disposition,  while  the  finely  chiselled  lips  and 
the  nostrils  must  eloquently  express  scorn  of  moral  oppo- 
sition and  a  determined  purpose  in  crime.  Her  queenly 
bearing,  as  well  as  the  nobility  of  all  her  movements,  pro- 
claims her  title  to  the  highest  earthly  greatness  and  power. 
Lady  Macbeth's  looks  ought  to  enchain,  and  yet,  withal, 
chill  us,  for  such  features  can  awaken  no  human  sympathy, 
and  can  only  disclose  the  dominion  of  monstrous  powers.' 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        109 

(Rotscher,  'Shakespeare  in  seiner  Character-bilden,'  as 
quoted  by  Furness.) 

'We  figure  Lady  Macbeth  to  have  been  a  tawny  or 
brown  blonde  Rachel,  with  more  beauty,  with  gray  and 
cruel  eyes,  but  with  the  same  slight,  dry  configuration  and 
constitution,  instinct  with  determined  nerve-power.  .  .  . 
In  Maclise's  great  painting  of  the  banquet  scene  she  is  rep- 
resented as  a  woman  of  large  and  coarse  development:  a 
Scandinavian  Amazon,  the  muscles  of  whose  brawny  arms 
could  only  have  been  developed  to  their  great  size  by  hard 
and  frequent  use;  a  woman  of  whose  fists  her  husband 
might  well  be  afraid.  .  .  .  Was  Lady  Macbeth 
such  a  being?  Did  the  fierce  fire  of  her  soul  animate  the 
epicene  bulk  of  a  virago?  Never!  Lady  Macbeth  was  a 
lady,  beautiful  and  delicate,  whose  one  vivid  passion 
proves  that  her  organization  was  instinct  with  nerve- 
force,  unoppressed  by  weight  of  flesh.  Probably  she  was 
small ;  for  it  is  the  smaller  sort  of  women  whose  emotional 
fire  is  the  most  fierce.'  ('The  Mad  Folk  of  Shakespeare,' 
T.  C.  Bucknill,  1867.) 

'Shakespeare  gives  us  no  hint  as  to  her  personal  charms, 
except  when  he  makes  her  describe  her  hand  as  "little." 
We  may  be  sure  that  there  were  few  "more  thoroughbred 
or  fairer  fingers"  in  the  land  of  Scotland  than  those  of  its 
queen,  whose  bearing  in  public  towards  Duncan,  Banquo, 
and  the  nobles  is  marked  by  elegance  and  majesty ;  and,  in 
private,  by  affectionate  anxiety  for  her  sanguinary  lord/ 
(Maginn,  'Shakespeare  Papers,'  1860.) 

In  her  'are  associated  the  subjugating  power  of  intellect 
and  the  charms  and  graces  of  personal  beauty.  You  will 


i  io          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

probably  not  agree  with  me  as  to  the  character  of  that 
beauty  .  .  .  it  is  of  that  character  which  I  believe  is 
generally  allowed  to  be  most  captivating  to  the  other  sex, 
—fair,  feminine,  nay,  perhaps,  even  fragile.  .  .  . 
Vaulting  ambition  and  intrepid  daring  rekindle  in  a  mo- 
ment all  the  splendours  of  her  dark  blue  eyes.  .  .  . 
Her  feminine  nature,  her  delicate  structure,  ...  are 
soon  overwhelmed  by  the  enormous  pressure  of  her  crimes. 
.  .  .  Her  frailer  frame  and  keener  feelings  have  now 
sunk  under  the  struggle, — his  robust  and  less  sensitive  con- 
stitution has  not  only  resisted  it,  but  bears  him  on  to  deep- 
er wickedness,  and  to  experience  the  fatal  fecundity  of 
'crime.'  (Sarah  Siddons,  'Remarks  on  the  Character  of 
Lady  Macbeth,'  in  Campbell's  'Life  of  Mrs.  Siddons.') 

OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

'She  is  ...  a  sort  of  sister  of  Milton's  Lucifer, 
and,  like  him,  we  surely  imagine  her  externally  majestic 
and  beautiful.  Mrs.  Siddons's  idea  of  her  having  been  a 
delicate  and  blonde  beauty  seems  to  me  to  be  a  pure  ca- 
price. The  public  would  have  ill  exchanged  such  a  rep- 
resentative of  Lady  Macbeth  for  the  dark  locks  and  the 
eagle  eyes  of  Mrs.  Siddons.'  (Campbell.) 

'No  one  doubts  that  he  has  shown  us  in  the  spirit  of 
Lady  Macbeth  that  masculine  firmness  of  will  which  he 
has  made  wanting  in  her  husband.  The  strictest  analogy, 
then,  would  lead  him  to  complete  the  harmonizing  con- 
trast of  the  two  characters  by  enshrining  this  "undaunted 
mettle"  of  hers  in  a  frame  as  exquisitely  feminine  as  her 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        in 

husband's  is  magnificently  manly.  This  was  requisite, 
also,  in  order  to  make  her  taunts  of  Macbeth's  irresolution 
operate  with  the  fullest  intensity.  Such  sentiments  from 
the  lips  of  what  is  called  a  masculine  looking  or  speaking 
woman  have  little  moral  energy  compared  with  what  they 
derive  from  the  ardent  utterance  of  a  delicately  feminine 
voice  and  nature.  Mrs.  Siddons,  then,  we  believe,  judged 

more  correctly  in  this  matter  than  the  public.'  (Fletcher.) 

i 

VI.   DID  SHAKESPEARE  WRITE  THE  PORTER  SCENE? 

'This  low  soliloquy  of  the  porter,  and  his  few  speeches 
afterwards,  I  take  to  have  been  written  for  the  mob  by 
some  other  hand,  perhaps  with  Shakespeare's  consent;  and 
that,  finding  it  take,  he  with  the  remaining  ink  of  a  pen 
otherwise  employed  just  interpolated  the  words,  "I'll 
devil-porter  it  no  further:  I  had  thought  to  have  let  in 
some  of  all  professions,  that  go  the  primrose  way  to  the 
everlasting  bonfire."  Of  the  rest  not  one  syllable  has 
the  ever-present  being  of  Shakespeare.'  (Coleridge,  'Notes 
and  Lectures/  1849.) 

'Nevertheless,  we  cannot  help  thinking  .  .  .  it  to 
have  been  not  only  his  composition,  but  .  .  .  natur- 
ally considered.  ...  It  serves  to  lengthen  dramatic 
time,  and  ....  its  repulsively  coarse  humor  serves 
powerfully  to  contrast,  yet  harmonise,  with  the  crime.' 
(M.  and  C.  C.  Clarke,  'Shakespeare.') 

'Without  this  scene,  Macbeth's  dress  cannot  be  shifted 
nor  his  hands  washed.  To  give  a  rational  space  for  the 
discharge  of  these  actions  was  this  scene  thought  of.' 


ii2          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

(Capell,  'Notes/  p.  13,  I779-) 

'A  porter's  speech  is  an  integral  part  of  the  play ;  it  is 
necessary  as  a  relief  to  the  surrounding  horror ;  it  is  neces- 
sary according  to  the  law  of  contrast  elsewhere  obeyed; 
the  speech  we  have  is  dramatically  relevant;  its  style  and 
language  are  Shakespearian.'  (J.  W.  Hales,  in  'New 
Shakspere  Society  Transactions,'  1874.) 

'The  knocking  at  the  gate  .  .  .  reflected  back  upon 
the  murder  a  peculiar  awfulness  and  a  depth  of  solemnity 

.  .  .  the  reaction  has  commenced;  the  human  has 
made  its  reflux  on  the  fiendish ;  the  pulses  of  life  are  be- 
ginning to  beat  again;  and  the  re-establishment  of  the  go- 
ings on  of  the  world  in  which  we  live  first  makes  us  pro- 
foundly sensible  of  the  awful  parenthesis  that  had  sus- 
pended them.'  (De  Quincey,  'Essays,'  1851.) 

OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

'To  us  this  comic  scene,  not  of  a  high  class  of  comedy 
at  best,  seems  strangely  out  of  place  amid  the  tragic  hor- 
rors which  surround  it,  and  is  quite  different  in  effect 
from  the  comic  passages  which  Shakespeare  has  intro- 
duced into  other  tragedies.'  (Clarendon  Press  'Shakes- 
peare.') 

'Nothing  more  admirably  fitted  than  this  scene  for  the 
purpose  of  supplying  the  transition  from  one  point  to 
effect  to  another  could  be  given ;  and  any  critical  censure 
of  the  poet  for  what  he  has  done  results  from  ignorance  of 
his  art.  The  true  dramatist  will  estimate  it  at  its  worth/ 
•(J.  A.  Heraud,  'Shakespeare's  Inner  Life,'  1865,  as  quoted 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        113 
by  Furness.) 

VII.    THE  THIRD  MURDERER 

'Macbeth  was  himself  the  third  murderer;  and  this 
is  apparent  because, — first,  although  the  banquet  was  to 
commence  at  seven,  Macbeth  did  not  go  there  till  near 
midnight ;  second,  his  entrance  to  the  room  and  the  appear- 
ance of  the  murderers  are  almost  simultaneous;  third,  so 
dear  to  his  heart  was  the  success  of  this  plot,  that  during 
the  four  or  five  hours  before  the  banquet  he  must  have 
been  taken  up  with  the  intended  murder  some  way  or  other. 
He  could  not  have  gone  to  the  feast  with  the  bare  chance 
of  the  plot  miscarrying;  fourth,  if  there  had  been  a  third 
murderer  sent  to  superintend  the  other  two,  he  must  have 
been  Macbeth 's  chief  confidant,  and  as  such  in  all  proba- 
bility would  have  been  the  first  to  announce  the  result; 
fifth,  the  "twenty  mortal  murthers"  was  a  needless  and 
devilish  kind  of  mutilation,  not  like  the  work  of  hirelings  ; 
sixth,  the  third  murderer  repeated  the  precise  instructions 
given  to  the  other  two,  showed  unusual  intimacy  with  the 
exact  locality,  the  habits  of  the  visitors,  etc.,  and  seems 
to  have  struck  down  the  light,  probably  to  escape  recogni- 
tion; seventh,  there  was  a  levity  in  Macbeth's  manner 
with  the  murderer  at  the  banquet  which  is  quite  explica- 
ble if  he  personally  knew  that  Banquo  was  dead ;  eighth, 
when  the  ghost  rises,  Macbeth  asks  those  about  him 
"which  of  them  had  done  it,"  evidently  to  take  suspicion 
off  himself,  and  he  says,  in  effect,  to  the  ghost,  "In  yon 
black  struggle  you  could  never  know  me!"  (Mr.  Allan 


ii4          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

Park  Paton,  in  'Notes  and  Queries/  September  11  and 
November  13,  1869.) 

'The  attendant  was  the  third  murderer.  The  stage  di- 
rections are  minute  concerning  one  character  not  men- 
tioned in  the  Dramatis  Persona*;  and  where  such  direc- 
tions are  given  by  Shakespeare,  I  believe  they  are  for  a 
purpose,  because  he  is  generally  careless  in  such  matters 
and  leaves  them  for  the  actors  to  carry  out.  Macbeth  ut- 
ters what  little  he  has  to  say  to  this  attendant  in  tone  of 
marked  contempt — suggestive  of  his  being  some  wretched 
creature  entirely  in  his  power,  not  an  ordinary  servant, 
but  a  tool.  Such  a  servant  in  moral  bondage  to  his  mas- 
ter would  be  employed  to  watch  without  the  palace  gate 
for  the  two  murderers,  whose  services  he  had,  by  Mac- 
beth's  orders,  secured.  He  need  not  have  known  the  pre- 
cise object  of  their  interview  with  Macbeth ;  and  I  think 
it  probable,  from  the  action  of  the  scene,  that  he  was  not 
told  of  it  until  after  Macbeth's  conversation  (III.  i.)  with 
the  two  murderers,  at  the  conclusion  of  which,  I  infer, 
he  was  commanded  to  watch  them.  The  stage  direction 
(III.  i.)  is,  Exeunt  all  but  Macbeth  and  an  attendant; 
next  is,  Re-enter  attendant  with  two  murderers.  Attend- 
ant then  retires;  but  after  Macbeth  leaves  them,  as  they 
go  out  by  one  door,  he  might  follow  by  the  other  the  at- 
tendant waiting  there  and  instruct  him.  The  exact  fa- 
miliarity which  the  third  murderer  shows  suggests  the 
attendant,  whose  familiar  knowledge  may  have  been  a 
reason  for  connecting  him  with  the  deed,  if  only  by  an 
afterthought,  lest  it  fail  without  it.  In  the  banquet  scene, 
if  the  attendant  stood  by  the  first  murderer  after  bringing 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        115 

him  in,  the  interview  would  seem  open,  and  such  a  con- 
versation could  be  better  carried  on  under  the  eye  of  the 
whole  company.  Otherwise,  the  effect  would  be  unman- 
ageable and  absurd,  instead  of  a  thrilling  horror.'  (Henry 
Irving  in  Nineteenth  Century  for  April,  1877,  PP-  3^7- 
330.) 

Queries  for  Discussion: — Why  is  a  third  murderer  in- 
troduced? Was  Macbeth  the  third  murderer? 

; 

VIII.  Is  HECATE  UN-SHAKESPEARIAN? 

'If  the  fifth  scene  of  Act  III.  had  occurred  in  a  drama 
not  attributed  to  Shakespeare,  no  one  would  have  discov- 
ered in  it  any  trace  of  Shakespeare's  manner;  IV.  i.  125- 
132  cannot  be  Shakespeare's.'  (The  Clarendon  editors.) 

'The  witches  discourse  with  one  another  like  women 
of  the  very  lowest  class,  to  which  witches  were  supposed 
to  belong.  .  .  .  When  they  address  Macbeth,  their 
tone  assumes  the  majestic  solemnity  by  which  oracles  have 
in  all  times  contrived  to  inspire  mortals  with  reverential 
awe.  We  here  see  that  the  witches  are  merely  instru- 
ments; they  are  governed  by  an  invisible  spirit,  or  the  or- 
dering of  such  great  and  dreadful  events  would  be  above 
their  sphere.'  (Schlegel,  'Lectures.') 

'The  wonderful  pace  at  which  the  play  was  plainly 
written — a  feverish  haste  drives  it  on — will  account  for 
many  weaknesses  in  detail.'  (Furnivall.) 

Macbeth  remarks  long  before  the  scene  in  which  He- 
cate appears  that  'witchcraft  celebrates  Pale  Hecate's  of- 
ferings' (II.  i.  52).  He  again  refers  to  Hecate's  powers 


ii6  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

(III.  ii.  41),  'ere  to  black  Hecate's  summons  The  shard- 
borne  beetle  with  his  drowsy  hums  Hath  rung  night's 
yawning  peal,  there  shall  be  done  A  deed  of  dreadful  note.' 
Do  these  references  of  Macbeth  to  Hecate  militate  against 
the  supposition  that  the  part  of  Hecate's  is  not  Shake- 
speare's ? 

'The  Hecate  of  III.  v.  and  IV.  i.  occurs  nowhere  else 
in  Shakespeare.  Even  in  this  play  the  "pale  Hecate" 
whose  "offerings  witchcraft  celebrates,"  the  black  He- 
cate who  summons  the  beetle  to  ring  "night's  yawning 
peal,"  is  the  classical  Hecate,  the  mistress  of  the  lower 
world,  arbiter  of  departed  souls,  patroness  of  magic,  the 
three-fold  dreadful  goddess:  so  she  is  in  "Midsummer 
Night's  Dream,"  in  "Lear,"  in  "Hamlet":  ...  in 
this  play  she  is  a  common  witch,  as  in  Middleton's  play 
(not  a  spirit,  as  the  Cambridge  editors  say)  ;  the  chief 
witch :  who  sails  in  the  air  indeed ;  all  witches  do  that ; 
but  a  witch:  rightly  described  in  the  stage  direction  of 
the  Folios),  Enter  Hecate  and  the  other  three  witches' 
(Fleay,  'Shakespeare  Manual,'  1878.) 

It  should  here  be  observed  that  upon  Hecate's  first  ap- 
pearance (III.  v.)  the  stage  direction  of  the  Folio  reads, 
Enter  the  three  witches  meeting  Hecate,  which  furnishes 
quite  as  good  an  argument  against  Hecate's  being  a  mere 
witch  as  the  other  stage  direction  does  for  it,  since  it  might 
mean  three  witches  besides  those  already  on  the  stage. 
Steevens  suggested  the  others  might  be  brought  in  to  join 
the  coming  dance.  The  Cambridge  editors  changed  to 
Enter  Hecate  to  the  other  three  Witches.  As  there  are 
frequently  changes  made  by  editors  in  the  stage  directions 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        117 

of  the  Plays,  arguments  based  on  them  have  to  be  taken 
with  caution. 


OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

'This  un-Shakespearian  Hecate  does  not  use  Shake- 
spearian language :  there  is  not  a  line  in  her  part  that  is  not 
in  Middleton's  worst  style:  her  metre  is  a  jumble  of  tens 
and  eights  (iambic  not  trochaic  like  Shakespeare's  short 
lines),  a  sure  sign  of  inferior  work;  and  what  is  of  the 
most  importance,  she  is  not  of  the  least  use  in  the  play  in 
any  way:  the  only  effect  she  produces  is,  that  the  three 
fate-goddesses,  who  in  the  introduction  of  the  play  were 
already  brought  down  to  ordinary  witches,  are  lowered 
still  further  to  witches  of  an  inferior  grade,  with  a  mis- 
tress who  "contrives  their  charms"  and  is  jealous  if  any 
"trafficking"  goes  on  in  which  she  does  not  bear  her  part.' 
(Fleay.) 

The  part  of  Hecate  is  absolutely  necessary  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  fatalistic  side  of  the  plot;  as  the  Fates 
were  subject  to  Zeus,  so  these  witches  were  subject  to 
Hecate,  and  were  unable  to  fulfill  the  destiny  of  Macbeth 
without  her  aid.  In  the  first  scene  they  simply  show  the 
ordinary  witch  power  of  second  sight,  but  in  IV.  i.,  in  or- 
der to  lead  Macbeth  to  his  further  confusion,  they  must 
show  him  apparitions;  this  they  could  not  do  without  the 
aid  of  magic  and  Hecate,  the  goddess  who  presided  over 
magic  and  its  practicers — the  witches.  Furthermore,  the 
growing  power  of  the  evil  influences  over  Macbeth  is  sym- 
bolized in  Hecate's  first  appearance  (III.  iv.),  when  she 


n8          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

expresses  her  determination  to  have  her  finger  in  the  de- 
struction of  this  man  who  loves  only  for  his  own  ends. 

i 

IX.  DOES  THB  LANGUAGE  IN  MACBETH  PROVE  THAT 
MANY  PASSAGES  IN  THE  PLAY  ARE  NOT  SHAKE- 
SPEARE'S? 

Messieurs  Clark  and  Wright  'are  persuaded  that  there 
are  parts  which  Shakespeare  did  not  write':  namely,  I. 
ii.,  of  which  'the  slovenly  metre  is  not  like  Shakespeare's 
work,  even  when  he  is  most  careless,'  nor  'the  bombastic 
phraseology  of  the  Sergeant/  like  'Shakespeare's  language 
even  when  he  is  most  bombastic';  II.  i.  1-37,  and  'the 
feeble  "tag,"  '  II.  i.  61 ;  II.  iii.  1-23,  'the  low  soliloquy 
of  the  Porter';  III.  v.;  IV.  i.  39-47,  125-132;  V.  v. 
47-50,  viii.,  32-33;  the  last  forty  lines  of  the  play. 
'Shakespeare,  who  has  inspired  his  audience  with  pity  for 
Lady  Macbeth,  and  made  them  feel  that  her  guilt  has 
been  almost  absolved  by  the  terrible  retribution  which  fol- 
lowed, would  not  have  disturbed  this  feeling  by  calling 
her  a  "fiend-like  queen" ;  nor  would  he  have  drawn  away 
the  veil  which,  with  his  fine  tact  he  had  dropt  over  her 
fate,  by  telling  us  that  she  had  taken  off  her  life  by  "self 
and  violent  hands."  '  (Clarendon  Press  Series,  1869.) 

Singularly  enough,  this  correction  of  'Macbeth'  is  in 
all  main  points,  from  the  clearing  up  of  the  'slovenly 
metre'  and  'bombastic  phraseology'  of  the  Sergeant,  to  the 
excision  of  the  parts  of  the  close  of  the  play  which  indi- 
cate Macbeth 's  resistance  of  suicide,  and  Lady  Macbeth's 
seizure  of  it,  precisely  the  correction  D'Avenant's  taste 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        119 

effected  when  he  amended  the  play  for  action  'at  the 
Duke's  Theatre.'  Is  that  play  as  printed  in  1674  in  these 
respects  more  Shakespearian  than  the  'Macbeth'  of  the 
First  Folio,  1623;  or  does  the  fact  that  the  taste  of  the 
Restoration  and  the  criticism  of  these  Victorian  editors 
accord  so  perfectly  upon  these  passages,  conduce  toward 
the  conclusion  that  it  is  unwise  to  pronounce  them  un- 
Shakespearian  ?  Are  the  suicide  passages  such  as  suit  the 
scheme  of  the  play  as  a  whole,  and  is  the  'Roman  death' 
a  favorite  allusion  in  Shakespeare?  Do  other  objections 
occur  to  you? 

The  Clarendon  Press  editors,  'following  the  suggestion 
originally  made  by  Steevens  as  to  the  resemblances  be- 
tween "The  Witch"  and  "Macbeth," '  conjecture  that 
to  Middleton  these  'un- Shakespearian'  passages  are  due, 
'who  to  please  the  groundlings  expanded  the  parts  as- 
signed to  the  weird  sisters  and  introduced  Hecate.'  Fleay, 
enlarging  on  the  same  thesis,  wrote: — 

'I  now  give  my  theory  as  to  the  composition  of  the 
play.  It  was  written  by  Shakespeare  during  his  third 
period  ...  its  date  was  probably  1606  .  .  . 
at  some  time  after  this  Middleton  revised  and  abridged 
it.  I  agree  with  the  Cambridge  editors  in  saying  not 
earlier  than  1613.  There  is  a  decisive  argument  that  he 
did  so  after  he  wrote  the  "Witch,"  namely,  that  he  bor- 
rowed the  songs  from  the  latter  play  and  repeats  himself 
a  good  deal.  It  is  to  me  very  likely  that  he  should  repeat 
himself  in  "Macbeth,"  and  somewhat  improve  on  his 
original  conception,  as  he  has  done  in  the  corresponding 
passages;  and  yet  be  unable  to  do  a  couple  of  new  songs, 


120          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

or  to  avoid  the  monotony  of  introducing  Hecate  in  both 
plays  (Hecate  being  a  witch  in  both,  remember)  [not 
proven,  remember].  I  can  quite  understand  a  third  rate 
man,  who  in  all  his  work  shows  reminiscences  of  others 
and  repetitions  of  Shakespeare,  being  unable  to  vary  such 
conceptions  as  he  formed  on  the  subject.  I  believe  that 
Middleton,  having  found  the  groundlings  more  taken  with 
the  witches,  and  the  cauldron,  and  the  visions  in  IV.  i. 
than  with  the  grander  are  displayed  in  the  Fate  goddesses 
of  I.  iii.  determined  to  amalgamate  these,  and  to  give  us 
plenty  of  them  ...  I  believe  also  the  extra  fighting 
in  the  last  scenes  was  inserted  for  the  same  reason.  But 
finding  that  the  magic  and  the  singing  and  the  fighting 
made  the  play  too  long  ...  he  cut  out  large  portions 
of  the  psychological  Shakespeare  work,  in  which,  as  far 
as  quantity  is  concerned,  this  play  is  very  deficient  com- 
pared with  the  three  other  masterpieces  of  world-poetry, 
and  left  us  the  torso  we  now  have  .  .  .  Middleton 
altered  many  scenes  by  inserting  rhyme  tags.' 

'Who  could  exhaust  the  praise  of  this  sublime  work? 
Since  "The  Furies"  of  ^Eschylus,  nothing  so  grand  and 
terrible  has  ever  been  composed.  The  witches  are  not,  it 
is  true,  divine  Eumenides,  and  are  not  intended  to  be  so; 
they  are  ignoble  and  vulgar  instruments  of  hell.  A  Ger- 
man poet,  therefore,  very  ill  understood  their  meaning 
when  he  transformed  them  into  mongrel  beings,  a  mixture 
of  fates,  furies,  and  enchantresses,  and  clothed  them  with 
tragical  dignity.  Let  no  man  lay  hand  on  Shakespeare's 
works  to  change  anything  essential  in  them;  he  will  be 
sure  to  punish  himself.  .  .  .  Shakespeare's  picture  of 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        121 

the  witches  is  truly  magical:  in  short  scenes  where 
they  enter,  he  has  created  for  them  a  peculiar  language, 
which,  although  composed  of  the  usual  elements,  still 
seems  to  be  a  collection  of  formulae  of  incantation.  The 
sound  of  the  words,  the  accumulation  of  the  rhymes,  and 
the  rhythmus  of  the  verse,  form,  as  it  were,  the  hollow 
music  of  a  dreary  dance  of  witches.  .  .  .  The  witches 
discourse  with  one  another  like  women  of  the  very  lowest 
class,  for  this  was  the  class  to  which  witches  were  sup- 
posed to  belong;  when,  however,  they  address  Macbeth, 
their  tone  assumes  more  elevation ;  their  predictions,  which 
they  either  themselves  pronounce  or  allow  their  appari- 
tions to  deliver,  have  all  the  obscure  brevity,  the  majestic 
solemnity,  by  which  oracles  have  in  all  times  contrived 
to  inspire  mortals  with  reverential  awe. 

'We  here  see  that  the  witches  are  merely  instruments; 
they  are  governed  by  an  invisible  spirit,  or  the  ordering 
of  such  great  and  terrible  events  would  be  above  their 
sphere.'  (Schlegel,  'Lectures  on  Art  and  Dramatic  Lit- 
erature.') 

'It  exhibits  throughout  the  hasty  execution  of  a  grand 
and  clearly  conceived  design.  But  the  haste  is  that  of  a 
master  of  his  art,  who,  with  conscious  command  of  its 
resources,  and  in  the  frenzy  of  a  grand  inspiration,  works 
out  his  composition  to  its  minutest  detail  of  essential  form, 
leaving  the  work  of  surface  finish  for  the  occupation  of 
cooler  leisure.  ...  I  am  inclined  to  regard  "Mac- 
beth" as,  for  the  most  part,  a  specimen  of  Shakespeare's 
unelaborated,  if  not  unfinished,  writing,  in  the  maturity 
and  highest  vitality  of  his  genius.  It  abounds  in  in- 


122          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

stances  of  extrcmcst  compression  and  most  daring  ellipsis, 
while  it  exhibits  in  every  scene  a  union  of  supreme  dra- 
matic and  poetic  power,  and  in  almost  every  line  an  im- 
perially irresponsible  control  of  language.  Hence,  I 
think,  its  lack  of  completeness  of  versification  in  certain 
passages,  and  also  some  of  the  imperfection  of  the  text, 
the  thought  in  which  the  compositions  were  not  always 
able  to  follow  and  apprehend/  (Richard  Grant  White.) 

OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

1.  'Macbeth,'  in  its  present  state,  is  an  altered  copy 
of  the  original  drama,  and  the  alterations  were  made 
by  Middleton.     (Fleay.) 

2.  'It  would  be  very  uncritical  to  pick  out  of  Shake- 
speare's works  all  that  seems  inferior  to  the  rest,  and  to 
assign  it  to  somebody  else.    At  his  worst  he  is  still  Shake- 
speare; and  though  the  least  "mannered"  of  all  poets  he 
has  always  a  manner  that  cannot  be  mistaken.'     (Cam- 
bridge editors.) 

3.  The  similarities  between  The  Witch*  and  'Mac- 
beth' proves  no  more  than  that  Shakespeare  in  this  case, 
as  in  other  provable  cases  (for  examples  see  resemblances 
in  the  Plays  to  Holinshed,  Plutarch,  Greene,  Chaucer, 
etc),  made  use  of  anything  that  suited  his  purpose,  and 
the  fact  that  the  passages  so  similar  in  'Macbeth'  always 
show  an  improvement  in  diction  and  a  purposefulness  in 
relation  to  character  or  plot  militates  in  favor  of  Shake- 
speare's having  borrowed  from  Middleton,  rather  than 
that  Middleton  either  improved  Shakespeare  or  borrowed 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        123 

from  him.     ( Compare  passages  as  given  in  'Literary  Illus- 
trations,' in  this  volume,  Part  VIII.,  with  'Macbeth.') 

4.  To  say  that  Shakespeare's  manner  is  always  recog- 
nizable is  to  give  almost  divine  powers  to  the  critic,  and 
is  especially  doubtful  when  the  critic's  standard  of  style 
is  subjective,  and  as  a  thing  apart,  instead  of  dramatic,  and 
a  thing  of  relations  to  the  subject. 

X.    NATURE  IN  'MACBETH' 

What  correspondences  are  there  in  'Macbeth'  between 
Nature  and  Man? 

'Action,  life,  passion — men  and  women — are  nearly  all 
in  all  throughout  Shakespeare's  works,  external  nature 
being  used  only  as  a  foil  to  show  off  the  lights  and 
shades  of  the  great  drama  of  human  existence.  Shake- 
speare does  not  paint  landscape  at  all,  as  we  now  under- 
stand that  word,  not  even  for  his  own  dramatic  purposes.' 
(Forsyth,  quoted  by  Furness.) 

'The  literal  significance  of  this  speech  (I.  iii.  38)  is 
that  the  day  has  been  foul  in  respect  to  the  weather  and 
fair  in  respect  to  the  battle.  ...  It  intimates  a  re- 
lationship, noted  by  Coleridge,  between  Macbeth  and  the 
witches.'  (Corson,  p.  231.) 

'So  fair  and  foul  a  day  I  have  not  seen.'  This  and 
similar  expressions  bring  out  the  relationship  between  hu- 
man and  natural  conditions.  What  evidence  is  there  that 
it  is  connected  with  the  forthcoming  action  when  'to  be- 
guile the  time'  Macbeth  is  to  'look  like  the  time  .  .  . 
look  like  the  innocent  flower,  But  be  the  serpent  under  it?' 


i24  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

Or,  may  it  rather  indicate  that  Macbeth,  though  pleased 
with  the  result  of  the  battle,  had  a  physical  distaste  for 
slaughter?  What  other  signs  are  there  of  Macbeth's 
squeamishness  ?  Is  it  still  likelier  that  Shakespeare  uses 
nature  imagery,  and  such  expressions  as  Macbeth's  about 
the  weather,  because  they  match  the  mood  shown,  and 
give  the  scene  the  right  color?  Compare  Lady  Macbeth's 
and  Duncan's  expressions  (I.  iv.  39  and  vi.  1-9).  At  the 
same  time  they  find  in  the  same  signs  an  opposite  sig- 
nificance. 

OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

1.  'In  no  other  play  has  Shakespeare  so  represented  the 
natural  world  as  reflecting  the  moral  world.'     (Corson.) 
Compare  'Lear,'  'Hamlet,'  'As  You  Like  It.' 

2.  It  is  refining  too  much  to  suppose  that  Shakespeare, 
in  his  day,  could  have  meant  so  much  philosophically  and 
morally,  as  such  an  interpretation  of  his  use  of  Nature  in 
this  play  would  involve.     Compare  with  the  use  of  Na- 
ture by  contemporaries  of  Shakespeare,  and  claim  that  the 
reflection  of  the  moral  world  in  Nature  is  modern. 

XL  THE  SUPERNATURAL 

Can  the  supernatural  element  in  'Macbeth'  be  ex- 
plained away? 

It  might  be  claimed  by  a  modern  interpreter  of  super- 
natural events  that  the  witches  were  clairvoyants,  who 
read  Macbeth's  mind  and  simply  announced  what  they 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        125 

found  in  it ;  that  the  air-drawn  dagger  and  the  ghost  were 
both  hallucinations  arising  from  Macbeth's  overwrought 
state  of  mind;  that  the  visions  the  witches  showed  him, 
with  Hecate's  help,  resulted  from  their  hypnotizing  him 
and  making  him  see  whatever  they  suggested. 

If  such  interpretations  would  not  have  been  possible  to 
the  knowledge  of  Shakespeare's  time,  must  we  suppose 
that  what  the  poet  intends  to  do  in  the  play  is  deliberately 
to  make  use  of  the  supernatural  in  the  superstitions  of  the 
time  to  symbolize  the  powers  outside  of  man  working  for 
his  undoing,  and  in  Macbeth  the  degeneration  of  a  soul 
which  responds  to  these  evil  powers? 

Or  is  the  whole  supernatural  paraphernalia  meant  to  be 
an  objective  presentation  of  the  degenerative  forces  inher- 
ent in  Macbeth's  mind  and  soul? 

The  action  of  Destiny  in  classic  drama  may  be  divided 
into  two  distinct  phases:  the  oracular, — the  revelation  of 
destiny;  the  ironical, — the  malignant  mockery  of  destiny. 
Oracles  are  fulfilled  in  classic  lore  ( I )  by  blind  obedience, 
(2)  by  the  agency  of  free  will,  or  indifference,  (3)  in 
spite  of  opposition.  .  .  .  The  three  principal  varie- 
ties ...  all  ...  are  illustrated  in  'Macbeth.' 
.  .  .  The  rise  of  Macbeth,  taken  by  itself,  consists  in 
an  oracle  and  its  fulfillment.  .  .  .  After  his  first  ex- 
citement Macbeth  resolves  that  he  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  temptation  (I.  iii.  143-146).  ...  So  far 
.  .  .  an  ocular  action  of  the  second  type;  indifference 
and  ignoring.  But  in  the  very  next  scene  (I.  iv.  48)  he 
commits  himself  to  the  evil  suggestion,  and  thus  changes 
the  type  of  action  to  the  first  variety,  ...  of  obedi- 


126          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

ence.  .  .  .  In  the  latter  half  of  the  oracle,  that  Ban- 
quo  was  to  get  kings,  originates  through  Macbeth's  oppo- 
sition to  it,  that  type  in  which  Destiny  is  fulfilled  by  the 
agency  of  a  will  that  has  been  opposing  it.  (See  Moulton, 
'Shakespeare's  Dramatic  Art,'  chap,  vi.) 

If,  as  Moulton  thinks,  this  play  is  an  example  of  the 
fulfilling  of  Destiny, — first  through  indifference  to  the 
oracle  of  the  witches,  then  through  obedience  to  it,  finally 
through  the  opposing  of  the  will  to  it, — then  the  witches 
must  be  objective  manifestations  and  not  the  visible  signs 
simply  of  Macbeth's  own  nature. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  claimed  that  'there  is  a 
Fate  which  shows  like  that  of  an  old  Greek  tragedy,  with 
its  supernatural  ministers  and  its  oracles  veiled  in  mystery. 
But  through  the  Passion  and  the  Fate  there  appears  the 
Moral  Proportion  of  the  play.  .  .  .  Macbeth's  am- 
bition for  sovereignty  and  power,  traced  throughout  the 
play,  is  found  to  be  his  fatal  passion.  .  .  .  Macbeth 
is  at  first  entirely  a  free  agent ;  he  is  the  author  of  his  own 
passion  and  responsible  for  his  own  fall.  .  .  .  Then, 
when  Will  is  but  a  vassal  to  obey  passion  in  every  par- 
ticular, Macbeth  is  no  longer  a  free  agent;  he  is  "pas- 
sion's slave."  ...  No  longer  capable  of  controlling 
himself,  he  must  take  his  place  with  a  lower  order  of  cre- 
ation and  be  ruled.  This  is  the  fatalism  of  passion, — the 
awful  truth  which  this  drama  so  forcibly  embodies;  the 
truth  that  the  moment  inward  liberty  is  gone,  that  which 
is  without  interferes  to  wrench  from  the  individual  his 
outward  liberty.'  (See  Ella  Adams  Moore,  'Moral  Pro- 
portion and  Fatalism  in  Macbeth,'  in  Poet-lore,  Vol.  VII., 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        127 

March,  1895.) 

If  the  fatalism  thus  described  is  so  prominently  brought 
out  by  Shakespeare,  must  not  the  classic  element  of  des- 
tiny and  the  supernatural  be  here  employed  more  as  the 
ethical  symbols  than  as  the  actual  factors  of  Macbeth's 
tragedy,  no  matter  how  concretely  represented,  as  they 
must  be  in  drama? 

OPPOSITE  PROPOSITIONS  FOR  DEBATE 

1.  The  supernatural  element  is  common  to  all  litera- 
ture, because  believed  in  as  real  and  as  the  guiding  force 
outside  man.    It  is  used  as  real  in  Shakespeare;  and  there 
is  no  reason  to  read  more  into  it  than  appears,  nor  to  sup- 
pose that  he,  in  his  day,  used  it  with  the  modern  skepticism 
which  doubts  its  reality  and  imputes  to  it  a  psychical 
quality.     Moreover,  the  witches  are  too  completely  char- 
acterized to  be  subjective  f  and  the  dramatic  interest  is 
enhanced  by  Macbeth's  being  a  puppet  of  fate. 

2.  The  supernatural  element  is  used  by  Shakespeare  in 
a  peculiar  way.    It  can  only  be  thoroughly  accounted  for 
by  supposing  his  manipulation  of  it  here  to  be  a  remark- 
able anticipation  of  a  point  of  view  brought  out  more  em- 
phatically and  succinctly  by  George  Meredith,  that  vir- 
tue of  character  comes  'when  we  cast  off  the  scales  of 
hope  and  fancy,  and  surrender  our  claims  on  made  chance, 
when  the  wild  particles  of  this  universe  consent  to  march 
as  they  are  directed.'      (See  'George  Meredith  on  the 
source  of  Destiny,'  by  Emily  Hooker,  Poet-lore,  Vol.  XII. 
No.  2.) 


i28  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

Moreover,  the  witches  are  not  characterized  to  a  degree 
that  is  inconsistent  with  both  their  dramatic  presentation 
and  their  subordination  to  this  inward  destiny ;  the  inter- 
est of  the  play  demands  that  Macbeth  shall  be  a  free 
agent;  the  irony  of  destiny  is  in  'Macbeth'  allied  to  jus- 
tice ;  and  the  play,  as  a  whole,  shows  the  approach  toward 
agreement  between  the  old  idea  of  destiny  and  the  modern 
idea  of  cause  and  effect. 

XII.  SHAKESPEARE'S  ORIGINALITY 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  To  what  extent  is  the  plot 
of  'Macbeth'  built  up  out  of  Holinshed? 

2.  Does   Shakespeare's   witchcraft   owe  everything  or 
nothing  to  Holinshed,  Golding,  and  Scot? 

3.  What  light  is  thrown  upon  Shakespeare's  originality 
and  style  by  a  comparison  of  his  'Macbeth'  with  D'Ave- 
nant's  version?    What  light,  also,  does  it  throw  upon  the 
change  in  public  taste  and  criticism,  that  passages  thought 
too  extravagant  and  barbarous  for  the  Restoration  were 
a  part  of  the  Elizabethan  text? 

4.  Is  the  divergence  of  the  adaptation  of  1674  (shown 
in  scenes  given  here,  Part  VIII.)  from  the  original  'Mac- 
beth' the  natural  result  of  a  different  conception  of  the 
plot  and  of  the  relations  of  the  characters,  of  which  the 
altered  diction  and  the  omissions,  etc.,  are  but  the  external 
signs? 

5.  Should  this  exemplification  of  the  historic  evolution 
of  literary  criticism  caution  us  against  decisions  as  to  what 
is  un-Shakespearian  in  'Macbeth,'  if  they  are  based  on 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        129 

later  taste,  especially  (i)  if  such  decisions  are  passed  on 
scenes  built  on  Holinshed;  (2)  if  they  agree  in  taste  with 
the  adaptation  of  1674;  (3)  if  they  are  unsupported  by  a 
study  of  the  dramatic  structure  of  the  play  as  a  whole  ? 

XIII.  QUESTIONS  IN  CRITICISM 

'Shakespeare's  genius  lay  for  comedy  and  humor.  .  .  . 
Every  one  must  be  content  to  wear  a  fool's  coat  who 
comes  to  be  dressed  by  him.  ...  In  tragedy,  he  ap- 
pears quite  out  of  his  element;  his  brains  are  turn'd,  he 
raves  and  rambles,  without  any  coherence,  any  spark  of 
reason,  or  any  rule  to  control  him  or  set  bounds  to  his 
phrensy.'  (Rymer,  'Short  View  of  Tragedy,'  1693.) 

'Shakespeare  labouring  with  multiplicity  of  sublime 
ideas  gives  himself  not  time  to  be  delivered  of  them  by  the 
rules  of  slow,  endeavouring  art,  crowds  various  figures, 
metaphors  upon  metaphor,  runs  the  hazard  of  far-fetched 
expression ;  condescends  not  to  grammatical  niceties.'  ( Up- 
on, 'Critical  Observations  on  Shakespeare,'  1746,  refer- 
ring here  especially  to  Macbeth's  soliloquy,  I.  vii.  16-28.) 

'This  play  is  deservedly  celebrated  for  the  propriety  of 
its  fictions,  and  the  solemnity,  grandeur,  and  variety  of  its 
action ;  but  it  has  no  nice  discrimination  of  character ;  the 
events  are  too  great  to  admit  the  influence  of  particular 
dispositions,  and  the  course  of  the  action  necessarily  de- 
termines the  conduct  of  the  agents.  .  .  .  Lady  Mac- 
beth is  merely  detested  .  .  .  the  courage  of  Macbeth 
preserves  some  esteem.'  (Johnson,  as  quoted  by  Furness.) 

'The  less  that  women  appear  on  the  stage  generally 


i3o          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

the  better  is  the  story;  and  unmarried  women  are  left 
entirely  out  in  Shakespeare's  best  plays,  as  in  "Macbeth," 
"Othello,"  "Julius  Caesar,"1  (Upton.) 

Are  the  witches  to  be  supposed  as  married  ?  Scott  says, 
in  his  'Discoverie  of  Witchcraft,'  with  similar  scorn  of 
women  in  general  and  the  unmarried  and  aged  in  particu- 
lar, and  to  the  discredit  of  witchcraft  on  this  account: 
'See  whether  witches  be  not  single,  and  of  what  credit, 
sexe,  and  age  they  are.' 

QUERIES  FOR  DISCUSSION 

On  what  ground  are  these  criticisms  justifiable?  Were 
they  true  from  certain  points  of  view,  or  were  they  never 
true? 

Is  Lady  Macbeth  detested  by  all  readers  now,  as  Dr. 
Johnson  said  she  was,  or  was  this  a  feeling  incident  to  his 
day? 

Are  readers  now  apt  to  agree  with  Upton  that  the  play 
would  be  better  if  Lady  Macbeth  and  the  witches  were 
left  out?  Are  they  likelier  to  consider  the  feminine  ele- 
ment in  Shakespeare's  Dramatis  Personae  one  of  the  signal 
signs  of  his  excellence  beyond  his  day,  amounting,  in  fact, 
to  a  long  step,  on  the  stage,  toward  such  an  opinion  as  the 
following,  of  George  Meredith? 

'The  higher  the  comedy,  the  more  prominent  the  part 
they  [women]  enjoy  in  it.  ...  Where  the  veil  is 
over  women's  faces,  you  cannot  have  society,  without 
which  the  senses  are  barbarous.'  ('An  Essay  on  Comedy/ 
pp.  22,  53,  1897.) 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  MACBETH        131 

Do  these  critics  utter  sound  strictures  upon  extrava- 
gance in  Shakespeare's  diction,  irregularities  in  his  design, 
or  do  they  but  make  it  clear  to  the  modern  eye  that  their 
critical  powers  were  for  a  day,  the  subject  of  them  for  all 
time? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  OTHELLO 
THE  STORY  OF  ACT  I 

Topic. — For   Paper,    (Classwork,   or   Private   Study) 
lago's  Desdemona's  Choice. 

Hints: — Through  what  events  does  the  action  of  the 
Play  begin  to  take  shape?  Show  that  the  main  events  of 
the  Act  are  Cassio's  appointment  to  the  lieutenancy,  Des- 
demona's elopement,  and  the  Ottomite  expedition,  but 
that  these  are  not  so  important  in  themselves  to  the  move- 
ment of  the  plot  as  in  their  effect  upon  the  characters. 
The  effects  of  the  appointment  on  lago,  and  of  the  elope- 
ment on  Roderigo  and  Brabantio,  for  example,  occupy 
the  first  scenes,  and  the  main  dramatic  use  of  them  seems 
to  be  to  exhibit  lago's  malice.  So  also  the  news  of  the 
Ottomite  Expedition,  which  brings  about  the  scene  in  the 
Ducal  Council  Chamber,  is  the  means  by  which  the  cir- 
cumstances and  nature  of  Desdemona's  love  and  choice  are 
revealed.  lago's  malice  promises  to  be  of  direct  import- 
ance in  shaping  the  coming  tragedy.  Desdemona's  choice 
is  the  other  more  passive  but  equally  necessary  element  of 
the  plot.  The  first  more  active  element  will  work  upon 
the  second.  What  signs  are  there  in  Act  I.  that  Cassio 
and  Roderigo,  lying  outside  of  these  two  elements  of 
the  story  as  they  do,  are  to  be  woven  into  it  through  the 
interaction  of  these  two  main  factors?  Show  how  Ro- 
derigo is  first  made  lago's  instrument,  and  how  it  appears 
immediately  in  this  Act  that  Cassio,  and  even  Othello, 

132 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  OTHELLO        133 

will  submit  to  the  same  mastery.  Doubt  of  Desdemona's 
constancy  in  her  choice  is  a  necessary  starting-point  in 
lago's  plan  of  action,  not  only  for  the  accomplishment  of 
his  own  ends,  but  also  for  his  entanglement  of  both 
Roderigo  and  Othello.  His  task  is  to  make  them  share 
his  doubt  of  her.  Why  is  lago  right  in  his  estimate  of 
Othello,  and  wrong  in  his  estimate  of  Desdemona?  Was 
Desdemona's  love  for  Othello  likely  to  prove  more,  or 
less,  lasting,  because  she  saw  Othello's  "visage  in  his 
mind"?  What  light  does  it  throw  on  lago,  that  he  could 
not  believe  in  such  love  ?  And  is  this  quality  thus  revealed 
the  real  cause  of  the  Tragedy? 

Topic. — i.  "Strike  on  the  Tinder,  ....  Give 
me  a  Taper." — What  sort  of  matches  were  in  use  in 
Venetian  and  in  Elizabethan  days?  2.  "What  Drugges, 
what  Charmes,"  etc.  (I.  iii.  109).  Love  potions  and 
charms. — 3.  "That  I  would  all  my  Pilgrimage  dilate." 
(176)  Give  an  account  of  some  of  the  discoveries  of  new 
and  strange  lands  in  Shakespeare's  time.  4.  A  sketch  of 
Venice.  5.  "A  voice  potential  As  double  as  the  Duke's." 
(I.  ii.  15). — The  power  and  position  of  a  Venetian  sena- 
tor. 

Query  for  Discussion : — Is  it  apparent  in  Act  I.  that  the 
love  of  Desdemona  and  Othello  holds  within  itself  the 
promise  of  a  violent  future?  Or  does  lago's  malice  alone 
threaten  it  with  evil? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  II 

Topic — lago's  Net. 

Hints : — Tell  the  story  of  lago's  stratagem  to  implicate 


134          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

Cassio  in  disorder  and  disgrace.  Note  the  double  mean- 
ing of  much  of  the  dialogue  considered  as  adding  to  the 
diversion  of  the  audience  and  enabling  it  to  find  pleasure 
of  an  intellectual  and  satiric  sort,  in  the  evil  machinations 
of  lago.  For  example,  where  lago  says  to  Cassio,  "I 
thinke  you  thinke  I  love  you,"  and  Cassio  replies,  "I  have 
well  approved  it,"  (II.  iii.  325-327)  the  apparent  and  the 
real  sense  present  an  amusing  contrast,  and  also  advance 
the  action.  While  pleasure  of  this  sort  lightens  the  trag- 
edy and  interests  one  from  the  maker's  point  of  view  in 
the  weaving  of  the  plot,  does  it  make  one  sympathize  at 
all  with  lago?  Discuss  the  importance  of  the  drunken 
scene  and  its  effect  on  the  whole  play. 

Points: — i.  Collect  and  explain  unusual  words  in  Act 
II.  as  "trash,"  "equinox,"  etc.  2.  "He'll  watch  the  horo- 
loge a  double  set." — Describe  a  horologe.  3.  The  songs 
introduced  in  Act  II.  and  their  music.  See  Percy's  'Rel- 
iques  English  Poetry.')  4.  Venice  and  Cyprus  and  their 
historical  connection. 

Queries  for  Discussion:— i.  Can  it  be  shown  from  this 
Act  that  Shakespeare  was  averse  to  drinking?  2.  How 
may  such  an  opinion  be  upheld  by  passages  in  other  Plays  ? 
(See  Mrs.  Stopes's  'The  Bacon-Shakspere  Question  An- 
swered,' which  finds  curious  difference  between  Shake- 
speare and  Bacon  on  the  subject  of  liquors.)  What  is 
meant  by  lago's  "Divinitie  of  hell"?  (II.  iii.  351-379) 
making  use  of  the  evil  possibilities  he  divines  in  people  to 
work  upon  them;  or  making  use  of  their  good  traits  to 
bad  ends?  or  what  is  the  master  secret  of  all  his  turning 
of  bad  into  worse  and  good  into  evil  ? 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  OTHELLO        135 
THE  STORY  OF  ACT  III 

Topic. — Othello  Enmeshed. 

Hints: — Show  what  parts  of  lago's  trap  are  newly 
originated  in  this  Act,  and  what  parts  are  further  devel- 
oped. Is  Desdemona's  loyal  and  faithful  nature  still  a 
factor  in  his  schemes  ?  Show  how  her  quality  of  perform- 
ing "to  the  last  Article"  when  she  vows  a  friendship  (III. 
iii.  27)  helps  lago.  What  other  quality  assists  him?  Does 
she  lack  moral  courage  ?  Is  she  wanting  in  self-assertion  ? 
In  knowledge  of  others?  Collect  all  instances  of  these 
qualities  and  trace  their  effect  on  the  action.  How  much 
does  lago's  ability  to  convince  Othello  depend  upon  his 
(lago's)  good  repute?  How  many  people  praise  lago 
in  the  course  of  the  play?  Trace  Emilia's  share  in  lago's 
plan  to  ensnare  Othello.  Show  how  far  Othello's  own 
nature  is  responsible  for  lago's  success.  What  is  the 
climax  of  this  act?  How  is  that  climax  made  prominent? 

Points: — i.  Was  Othello  fond  of  music?  Collect  and 
compare  references  bearing  on  this  question.  What  ap- 
propriateness would  there  be  in  making  him  like  or  dis- 
like music?  2.  Reconcile  Cassio's  inquiry  as  to  whom 
Othello  had  married,  I.  ii.  64,  with  III.  iii.  88.  3-  Ex- 
plain the  imagery  and  meaning  of  III.  iii.  304. — "If  I  do 
prove  her  Haggard,"  etc.  4.  Reconcile  the  two  different 
stories  Othello  tells  about  the  handkerchief.  5.  Explain 
allusions,— "the  Ponticke  Sea,"  (III.  iii.  16)  "dyde  in 
Mummey,"  (III.  iv.  88)  etc. 

Queries  for  Discussion :— Which  is  the  strongest  ele- 
ment of  lago's  success  in  ensnaring  Othello, — his  evil 


i36  SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

mind,  his  cunning  tongue,  or  his  accumulation  of  circum- 
stantial evidence?  Or  is  it  Cassio's  weakness;  Desde- 
mona's  duplicity,  or  else  her  purity ;  Othello's  jealous  na- 
ture, or  else  his  race  humility? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  IV 


Topic. — Venice  Interposes. 

Hints: — In  telling  the  story  of  Act  IV.  observe  how  all 
the  new  matter  introduced  in  this  Act  which  refers  to 
lago's  schemes  is  merely  confirmatory  of  them  and  does 
not  materially  advance  the  action,  the  deaths  of  Cassio 
and  Desdemona  having  been  already  determined  upon. 
Show  what  the  occurrences  of  Act  IV.  do  effect,  and  what 
it  is  that  Shakespeare  accomplishes  by  the  introduction  of 
Lodovico's  embassy.  Does  this  interposition  of  Venice, 
commanding  as  it  does  Othello's  return  and  deputing  Cas- 
sio in  his  stead,  seem  to  promise  the  frustration  of  peril 
from  Desdemona  and  Cassio?  Or  does  it  in  fact  precipi- 
tate the  resolution  of  lago  and  of  his  dupe  to  act  against 
their  victims  the  very  same  night?  Show  Shakespeare's 
clever  double  use  of  it  in  both  these  ways,  and  how  it 
both  delays  and  precipitates  the  action.  Notice  the  effect 
of  the  embassy  upon  Othello  in  arousing  his  suspicion 
that  Desdemona  and  Venice  are  in  league  with  Cassio 
and  against  him.  Trace  its  effect  also  in  exciting  his  pub- 
lic outbreak  against  his  wife.  Does  Desdemona  guess 
from  the  first,  or  only  later  how  Othello  will  construe 
Lodovico's  embassy?  What  is  its  effect  upon  lago  and 
Roderigo?  Observe  how  Desdemona  seeks  to  disarm 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  OTHELLO        137 

Othello's  suspicions  as  to  her  part  in  the  mission  of  Lodo- 
vico.  Consider  the  closing  scene  of  Act  IV.  as  ominous  of 
the  catastrophe  to  be  brought  about  in  the  following  act, 
and  also  as  inducing  the  right  spirit  of  apprehensive  dread 
and  pity  in  the  audience. 

Points:— i.  Origin  of  the  Willow  Song  and  old  and 
new  examples  of  its  music.  For  two  musical  settings, 
see  Poet  Lore,  Vol.  I,  p.  39,  and  p.  175.  2.  Explain  allu- 
sions to  Crocodile's  tears,  (IV.  i.  273)  ;  Time's  "slow,  and 
moving  finger"  (IV.  ii.  65) ;  "Mauritania"  (IV.  ii.  257). 
etc. 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  Why  are  the  most  circum- 
stantial arguments  in  Othello's  suspicion  of  his  wife  given 
in  Act  IV.  when  he  is  already  convinced  of  her  infidelity? 
2.  Was  "the  Moore"  a  Negro? 

ACT  V 

Topic. — lago's  Schemes  Succeed  and  Fail. 

Hints : — V.  i.  shows  lago  performing  in  his  peculiar,  in- 
direct manner  his  share  in  Othello's  vengeance  as  agreed 
upon  between  them.  It  depicts  him,  moreover,  as  work- 
ing out  a  special  scheme  of  his  own  against  Roderigo  and 
Bianca.  Discuss  his  motives  and  means  in  these  under- 
plots, and  the  use  of  them  in  the  play.  Do  they  help  the 
action?  Or  show  character?  How  is  this  first  scene 
linked  to  the  next  (V.  ii),  wherein  Othello  carries  out  his 
part  of  the  agreement  with  lago  against  Desdemona?  Is 
it  shown  to  have  any  effect  on  Othello's  action?  Why 
did  Othello  resolve  to  strangle  Desdemona?  Was  it  his 
own  idea?  Compare  V.  i.  44,  with  V.  ii.  5>  etc.  Did 


i38          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

she  guess  the  truth  when  she  cried,  "O,  my  fear  inter- 
prets," etc?  If  so,  why  did  she  not  explain  at  once? 
Why  does  she  cry  out  when  she  hears  later  that  Cassio  is 
not  killed?  Notice  how  Emilia,  as  well  as  Desdemona, 
guesses  the  truth,  now.  What  purpose  could  Shakespeare 
have  had  in  killing  off  Brabantio, — is  it  to  preclude  any 
possible  misunderstanding  of  Othello's  recall  to  Venice  as 
issuing  from  Desdemona's  father?  Notice  that  Othello's 
hearsay  and  circumstantial  evidence  as  to  the  handkerchief 
is  brought  forward  in  justification  of  his  act  to  others.  Is 
it  a  defect  in  the  denouement  that  the  overheard  inter- 
view with  Bianca  is  never  explained?  What  best  serves 
to  convince  Othello  that  he  has  been  gulled, — Emilia's 
statement  that  she  stole  the  handkerchief  at  lago's  wish, 
lago's  own  conduct,  or  his  wife's  dying  testimony? 

Points: — I.  Costume  of  the  Play.  2.  Of  what  race 
was  lago,  what  signs  of  it,  what  appropriateness  in  mak- 
ing him  so  ?  3.  Why  is  the  Turk  spoken  of  as  a  "circum- 
cised dog"?  4.  Was  it  legal  and  customary  in  Venetian 
days  for  a  husband  to  execute  his  wife  for  infidelity  ?  How 
was  it  in  Elizabethan  England? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  Is  lago  or  Othello  the 
truly  tragic  figure  of  the  play? 

2.  How  can  Desdemona's  reviving  and  her  last  words 
(V.  ii.  147-156)  be  accounted  for?  When  Othello  finally 
declared  that  he  would  not  have  her  "linger  in  paine" 
(V.  ii.  iii)  what  did  he  do?    Did  he  stab  her  at  "so,  so?" 
(See  Notes,  also  Introduction,  in  First  Folio  Edition). 

3.  Is  lago  destitute  of  Conscience?     (See  'lago's  Con- 
science' in  Poet-lore,  Vol.  V.  Apr.  '93.) 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  OTHELLO        139 
VI.  CHARACTER  STUDIES 

1.  Topic.— A  Study  of  Othello  as  Husband. 

Hints : — Compare  with  Leontes  in  'The  Winter's  Tale* 
and  Posthumus  in  'Cymbeline.'  Observe  all  differences 
and  likenesses  in  the  circumstances  and  the  incitation  to 
jealousy  of  the  three  husbands.  Which  wife  gives  the  most 
excuse  to  suspicion?  Which  husband  is  the  least  tyranni- 
cal? The  husband  whose  jealousy  was  the  least  defensi- 
ble— Leontes — is  the  only  one  to  make  any  show  of  legal 
procedure.  How  would  you  explain  that  fact?  Is  it  due 
to  Leontes'  superiority  over  Othello  that  this  is  so;  to 
Hermione's  rank  as  an  Emperor's  daughter;  or  to  the  cir- 
cumstance that  the  story  on  which  'The  Winter's  Tale 
is  founded  belongs  to  a  stage  of  civilization  less  arbitrary 
in  its  treatment  of  woman?  Scepticism  as  to  the  worth 
of  a  woman  and  of  her  capacity  to  love  might  be  shown  to 
be  the  source  of  the  tragedy  in  the  three  plays.  What 
are  the  main  differences  in  the  modes  of  the  tempters, 
lago  and  lachimo,  in  gaining  an  ascendency  over  their 
dupes?  Consider  the  play  of  'Othello'  as  consisting  in 
the  struggle  of  a  masculine  and  egoistic  will,  represented 
by  lago,  for  the  supremacy  over  a  feminine  and  altruistic 
passivity,  represented  by  Desdemona,  the  stage  of  the 
struggle  being  the  heart  of  Othello. 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  Is  Othello's  jealousy  such 
as  belongs  peculiarly  to  the  representation  of  a  Moor?  or 
is  it  not  intended  to  have  any  special  racial  quality? 

2.  Why  does  Shakespeare  make  him  kill  himself?    (See 
Sources). 


140          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

2.  Topic. — Emilia:  her  Inferiority  and  Superiority  to 
her  Mistress. 

Hints: — Consider  whether  the  contrast  usually  drawn 
between  the  "white-souled  Desdemona"  and  the  "gross- 
thoughted,  mercenary,  lax-principled  Emilia"  is  quite  ac- 
curate. Warrant  may  be  found  for  it  on  the  one  side, 
and,  on  the  other  side,  excuse  for  Emilia  can  be  found 
also,  although  it  is  not  often  brought  forward.  Is  her 
action  throughout  the  Play  toward  her  husband  better 
than  her  speech  in  IV.  iii.  8091  ?  Is  it  possible  that  Des- 
demona's  meekness  under  injustice  exasperated  her, 
aroused  her  own  sense  of  justice  and  of  revolt  against 
marital  supremacy?  Are  Emilia  and  Othello  guilty  of 
the  relations  with  each  other  of  which  lago  speaks  ?  Does 
she  guess  lago's  hand  in  her  mistress's  troubles  before  she 
understands  lago's  use  of  the  handkerchief  which  she  stole 
for  him,  V.  2.  270-287,  etc.  Her  loyalty  to  Desdemona 
at  the  expense  of  her  husband  argues  her  disinterestedness 
and  nobility.  Can  you  imagine  Desdemona  equally  faith- 
ful to  another  woman  or  to  justice  at  Othello's  expense? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  Does  ^Emilia's  impersonal 
action  at  the  close  of  the  play  mark  her  as  a  more  experi- 
enced type  of  woman  than  Desdemona  ?  What  light  upon 
Shakespeare's  view  and  use  of  ^Emilia  is  thrown  by 
the  changes  he  made  from  Cinthio  as  to  the  handkerchief 
incident  and  the  exposure  of  lago?  (See  Sources  and 
Notes  on  III.  iii.  341,  347  in  First  Folio  Edition).  Did 
Desdemona,  with  her  last  breath  lie?  (See  Introduction 
to  "Othello"  in  First  Folio  Edition). 


THE  TRAGEDIE  OF  ROMEO  AND  JULIET 
THE  STORY  OF  ACT  I 

Topic. — For  Paper,  Classwork,  or  Private  Study. — 
The  Family  Feud:  the  Prince's  Decree;  the  Meeting  of 
the  Lovers. 

Hints: — Observe  that  the  foundation  for  the  tragedy 
is  laid  in  the  "ancient  quarrell"  of  the  Capulets  and  Mon- 
tagues. Show  how  it  is  exhibited  in  the  opening  scene  as 
no  dead  issue.  The  action  is  arranged  to  bring  it  out  as  a 
social  fact  having  all  the  depth  of  a  rooted  antipathy  and 
all  the  inflammableness  shown  in  the  fresh  brawl.  The 
heads  of  the  rival  houses  are  instantly  ready  to  be  drawn 
into  a  street  squabble  flaring  up  between  mere  servants  on 
no  pretext  at  all.  The  fact  that  this  quarrelsomeness  is  of 
old  date,  and  that  three  such  "civil!  Broyles"  have  recent- 
ly disturbed  the  peace  of  Verona,  is  an  important  factor 
in  the  dramatic  action.  Show  how  this  comes  out  in  the 
decree  of  the  Prince. 

Under  what  circumstances  is  Romeo  introduced  ?  Is  it 
significant  that  he,  as  his  Mother  first  makes  clear,  was 
not  at  this  fray,  and  on  his  first  appearance  shows  his  dis- 
like of  it?  What  does  Shakespeare  accomplish  by  introduc- 
ing his  hero  as  in  love  with  Rosaline?  Consider  this  ques- 
tion, first,  in  its  effect  upon  the  dramatic  action  (e.  g.  it 
causes  him  to  go  to  the  Banquet  where  he  meets  Juliet)  : 
and,  second,  in  its  effect  upon  the  presentation  of  his  char- 
acter. 

Show  how  in  Scenes  ii.  and  iii.  another  match  for  the 
141 


142          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

heroine  is  sketched  as  impending,  so  that  Juliet  as  well  as 
Romeo  seems  to  be  separated  not  alone  by  the  family  feud 
but  also  by  the  desire  or  prospect  of  other  connections. 
Observe  that  the  Banquet,  which  next  takes  place  in  the 
story,  is  meant  by  Capulet  and  Paris  to  further  their 
plans  for  Juliet,  and  by  Romeo  himself  to  be  an  occasion 
for  meeting  Rosaline.  Is  all  this  well  calculated  or  not  to 
enhance  the  final  event  of  Act  I. — the  meeting  of  the  lov- 
ers ?  What  tokens  of  the  fatality  of  the  lovers'  meeting  are 
brought  out?  Are  all  the  principal  characters  introduced 
in  the  course  of  this  one  Act?  How  far  are  their  personal 
peculiarities  made  clear? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  Which  is  the  most  poten- 
tial event  in  Act  I?  The  brawl  and  the  family  hatred  it 
shows?  The  decree  of  the  Prince?  The  courtship  of 
Countie  Paris?  The  meeting  of  the  Lovers?  Why?  2. 
How  are  all  the  other  events  linked  to  that  one,  so  as  to 
give  it  dominance?  3.  Why  has  the  Poet  made  the  lov- 
ers' hand-clasp  so  significant?  Is  true  love,  love  at  first 
sight? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  II 

Topic. — The  Marriage. 

Hints: — Indicate  the  main  events  of  Act  II  as  they 
occur  in  each  Scene;  showing  how  they  flow  out  of  the 
foregoing  Act,  also  which  events  bring  fresh  forces  and 
new  matter  into  the  dramatic  action.  What  new  light  is 
thrown  on  each  of  the  characters  already  introduced  ?  Do 
any  entirely  new  characters  appear  ?  What  importance  to 
such  is  promised?  Do  you  like  Romeo  better  in  this  Act 


TRAGEDIE  OF  ROMEO  AND  JULIET   143 

than  in  Act  I?  Why?  How  is  it  that  Juliet's  traits  show 
so  clearly  from  the  first?  Is  she  less  influenced  than  Ro- 
meo is  by  the  developing  power  of  the  emotion  seizing 
them  ?  How  are  the  other  characters,  Benvolio,  Mercutio, 
the  Friar,  the  Nurse  and  Tybalt  linked  to  the  central 
characters  and  the  absorbing  event  of  the  Act — their 
marriage?  Is  Mercutio's  talk  dramatically  useless?  Is 
that  of  the  Nurse,  or  the  Friar?  Notice  that  the  second 
main  event  of  this  Act  for  the  plot  unfolding  by  means  of 
it — Tybalt's  challenge,  is  not  made  prominent,  and  that 
its  dramatic  importance,  which  develops  in  the  Act  fol- 
lowing, is  not  clear?  Is  this  a  mistake?  Or  is  it  judi- 
cious? and  if  so,  why  should  it  loom  up  menacingly  but 
vaguely?  And  why  should  the  marriage  so  entirely  ab- 
sorb this  Act? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  Is  it  natural  for  Romeo  to 
talk  so  lightly  and  briskly  with  Mercutio  just  after  so  in- 
tense a  love  scene?  Does  it  discredit  his  earnestness  as  a 
lover,  or  is  his  quick-wit  a  sign  of  his  tension  and  an  out- 
let for  his  excitement? 

2.  Are  the  Nurse  and  the  Friar  to  blame  equally,  for 
yielding  to  the  wishes  of  the  lovers  so  readily? 

3.  Is  the  Friar's  talk  on  his  first  appearance  (II.  iii. 
1-32)  irrelevant  and  his  moralizing  soliloquy  a  needless 
delaying  of  the  action,  or  has  it  a  symbolic  bearing  upon 
the  essence  of  the  Play? 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  III 

Topic. — Tybalt's  death  and  Romeo's  Banishment. 
Hints:— The  ancient  feud  antf  Tybalt's  challenge  which 


144          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

is  its  instrument,  arc  in  this  Act  brought  into  violent 
clash  with  the  lovers.  By  whose  intervention  is  this  af- 
fected? Discuss  this  arrangement  by  Shakespeare.  It 
makes  Romeo  almost  as  guiltless  as  he  possibly  could  be 
made  of  quarrelsomeness  or  any  unmindfulness  of  the 
claim  upon  him  of  his  newly  made  Bride's  kindred;  yet 
it  puts  him  in  a  position  where  truth  to  the  time  and  to 
the  high  spirit  of  the  character  demands  of  Romeo  the 
sudden  action  he  regrets  too  late.  See  the  Sources  in  the 
First  Folio  Edition,  p.  125,  for  the  incident  of  Mercutio's 
"cold  hand,"  and  discuss  the  suggestiveness  of  this  for  the 
act,  as  the  only  prototype  of  this  peculiar  arrangement,  by 
which  Romeo  refuses  to  fight  with  Tybalt  and  is  only 
drawn  into  it  by  Mercutio's  intervention  and  death.  Is 
Romeo's  banishment  just?  Did  Benvolio  bear  witness 
well?  Capulet's  wife  plays  at  this  point  a  vindictive  part. 
What  is  its  use  toward  the  plot?  Is  it  in  character  for  a 
woman?  Does  it  suit  with  what  is  hitherto  shown  of  her? 
Does  it  lead  you  to  expect  some  hard  and  unlovely  traits 
to  come?  Compare  with  the  few  words  given  to  Lady 
Montague. 

Queries  for  Discussion :— i.  Does  Juliet  yield  too  eas- 
ily? 2.  How  far  should  individual  desire  and  welfare  in- 
sist upon  fulfilment  when  it  clashes  with  social  or  family 
desire  and  welfare?  3.  Suppose  Romeo  had  been  less 
sincere;  would  Juliet  be  any  the  less  right,  although  un- 
happier,  in  her  sincerity?  4.  Is  Romeo  right  in  refusing 
Tybalt's  challenge  and  leaving  Mercutio  to  die  for  him? 


TRAGEDIE  OF  ROMEO  AND  JULIET   145 
THE  STORY  OF  ACT  IV 

i 

Topic. — Love  and  the  Friar  versus  the  Father  and  the 
Feud. 

Hints: — The  postponed  courtship  of  Paris  now  con- 
fronts Juliet.  Since  it  now  only  is  put  in  action,  and  only 
at  this  point  appears  in  the  original  story  (see  Sources, 
First  Folio  Edition,  p.  127)  was  it  superfluous  to  give 
room  to  it  earlier?  Although  the  marriage  is  a  new  and 
sudden  project  for  Juliet,  it  is  by  this  means  shown  to  be 
an  old  idea  for  her  father.  Juliet's  deception  of  her  mother 
by  her  pretended  grief  for  Tybalt  has  some  influence.  Show 
how  all  this  assists  in  setting  the  family  at  cross  purposes 
with  the  daughter,  and  drives  them  further  and  further 
apart.  The  desertion  of  Juliet  by  the  Nurse,  the  absolute 
loneliness  of  the  young  Bride,  and  the  influence  of  this 
upon  her  action  are  the  next  steps  in  the  plot  to  be  traced ; 
also  how  this  leads  to  the  Friar's  plan  of  retrieval. 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  Are  Juliet's  parents  hard 
and  unnatural?  Are  they  merely,  from  their  point  of 
view,  acting  for  the  good  of  an  incomprehensible  daugh- 
ter ?  2.  Is  Juliet's  deception  of  them  and  of  Paris  neces- 
sary? Is  the  Friar's?  Why  did  he  think  it  necessary?  3. 
Does  the  grief  of  the  Father  and  Mother  sound  real? 
Does  the  Nurse's  grief  seem  to  parody  theirs?  and  if  so, 
was  this  intentional,  do  you  think?  Was  it  Shakespeare's 
drift,  perchance,  to  show  their  essential  lack  of  sympathy 
with  their  own  child?  4.  What  was  the  dramatic  or 
stage  object  of  the  episode  of  Peter  and  the  musicians? 
(IV.  v.  105-146). 


I46          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

THE  STORY  OF  ACT  V 

( 

Topic. — Love  Frustrated  yet  Powerful. 

Hints: — Notice  that  at  the  close  of  Act  IV  there  is  a 
close  also  in  the  progression  of  the  plot.  There  is  no  spec- 
ial reason  to  doubt  the  Friar  or  his  beneficent  scheme  to 
unite  the  lovers  and  heal  the  family  feud  By  their  union. 
Suspense  holds  sway.  Is  that  in  itself  suspicious?  Aside 
from  the  Prologue,  are  there  any  slightest  indications  that 
a  hitch  in  the  Friar's  plan  is  coming?  In  what  then  does 
the  story  of  Act  V  consist?  i.  e.  What  are  its  new  events ? 
And  what  fresh  trains  of  action  are  set  up  by  them  ?  The 
hitch  in  the  Friar's  plan  is  made  clearly  ominous  in  Scene 
ii.  But  observe  that  in  Scene  i.  something  even  more  po- 
tential for  tragedy  is  represented.  From  whose  mood  and 
act  does  this  spring  ?  Discuss  Romeo's  presentiment  of  wel- 
fare (V.  i.  1-12),  and  its  dramatic  effectiveness  at  this 
halt  in  the  movement  of  events.  Notice  that  it  is  right 
and  true  to  all  appearances,  and  in  fact,  inwardly,  too,  yet 
seems  mockingly  wrong  when  the  news  from  Verona 
comes.  It  is  then  made  wrong  by  Romeo's  action  when  he 
denies  the  auspicious  stars  that  seemed  to  favor  him.  The 
irony  is  presented  of  a  good  influence,  bound  to  prevail  in 
the  end,  in  a  spiritual  sense,  that  seems  to  trick  him  com- 
pletely, and  yet  only  suffers  the  petty  crossing  of  an  acci- 
dent— the  miscarriage  of  the  Friar's  letter,  until  Romeo 
doubts  and  denies  the  favorable  influence.  Why  does 
Shakespeare  introduce  the  fight  between  Romeo  and  Par- 
is? How  does  it  bring  Peter  into  the  events  leading  to 
the  solution  of  the  plot?  What  does  it  make  him  do? 


TRAGEDIE  OF  ROMEO  AND  JULIET   147 

Docs  it  accomplish  anything  else?  What  does  Romeo 
mean  by  addressing  the  dead  body  of  Paris  as  "Death  lie 
thou  there,  by  a  dead  man  interr'd."  (V.  iii.  90.)  At 
what  point  in  his  last  speech  does  Shakespeare  designate 
that  Romeo  drank  the  poison?  (Note  that  the  stage-di- 
rection "Drinks"  was  inserted  by  Theobald,  and  that  the 
modernized  text  follows  the  fourth  Quarto  in  the  omis- 
sion of  11.  111-114,  against  the  authority  of  the  Folio  and 
the  best  early  Quarto,  i.  e.  the  second.  See  the  First 
Folio  Edition  of  the  Play  for  the  facts,  as  it  gives  the  orig- 
inal Folio  text,  all  later  interpolations  between  brackets, 
and  at  the  foot  of  each  page  the  main  changes  in  of  the 
modernized  text  and  their  authority,  and  discusses  this 
scene  in  the  Introduction,  pp.  xv-xix).  What  difference 
in  rashness  does  the  action  of  the  lovers  in  slaying  them- 
selves show?  Is  the  end  true  to  human  nature  in  that  the 
fathers  with  touched  hearts,  forgive  when  it  is  too  late, 
what  they  would  unrelentingly  have  opposed  earlier;  and 
what  better  principle  of  action  may  be  drawn  than  that 
which  they  followed? 

Queries  for  Discussion: — i.  Discuss  Brooke's  moral  (as 
expressed  in  the  Preface  to  his  Poem  quoted  in  First 
Folio  Edition,  p.  12 1)  in  comparison  with  the  inference 
Shakespeare  leads  you  to  draw  of  the  spiritual  might  of 
love  over  hatred.  How  do  you  know  that  Shakespeare 
agrees  or  disagrees  with  Brooke?  2.  If  Romeo  had  been 
more  patient  would  this  tragedy  have  turned  into  a  play 
with  a  happy  ending?  Would  it  have  been  in  character? 
Would  you  like  him  better?  3.  Was  the  death  of  the 
faithful  lovers  required  to  appease  the  family  feud,  but 
not  requisite  to  test  or  perfect  the  lovers  themselves? 


i48          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 
CHARACTER  STUDIES 

1.  Topic. — Juliet's  Mother  and  her  Nurse. 

Hints : — Discuss  the  class  types  presented  in  these  guar- 
dians of  the  young  girl.  What  is  shown  of  Lady  Capulet 
from  her  relation  to  her  husband?  Was  she  Juliet's  own 
mother?  Was  she  much  younger  than  her  husband?  Is 
the  Nurse  more  truly  Juliet's  mother  than  her  mother  is  ? 
Does  Juliet's  confidence  in  her  Nurse  show  that  she  was  a 
better  guardian  for  her?  Is  helpfulness  possible  to  anyone 
in  times  of  crucial  personal  decision,  or  is  loneliness  and 
self-help  the  condition  of  spiritual  ripening? 

2.  Topic. — The  Fathers  and  the  Feud. 

Hints: — Show  the  historical  truth  of  the  quarrelsome 
brawling  background  of  mis  love  story  to  mediaeval  con- 
ditions in  Italy.  Compare  the  pictures  of  the  time  simi- 
larly given  in  D'Annunzio's  "Francesca"  and  Brown- 
ing's "Sordello."  Illustrate  how  completely  Shakespeare 
has  made  his  fathers  typical  embodiments  of  this  militant 
condition  of  the  noble  families  of  the  Middle  Ages;  and 
also  in  what  various  ways  he  has  individualized  his  types, 
so  that  Capulet  and  Montague  also  stand  out  as  persons. 
Has  he  characterized  either  one  more  than  the  other,  and 
if  so,  why?  Would  it  serve  the  effectiveness  of  his  whole 
picture  to  do  so?  Have  we  in  modern  times  among  men 
only  a  similar  spirit  of  rivalry,  and  a  militancy  with  other 
weapons  than  sword  and  dagger?  Is  such  a  spirit  as 
inimitable  to  ideal  fatherhood  and  family  sympathy  now 
as  then?  The  relation  of  their  dependents  to  the  feudal 


TRAGEDIE  OF  ROMEO  AND  JULIET   149 

chiefs :  does  loyalty  under  such  conditions  tend  to  develop 
good  qualities  in  servants  and  allies? 

3.  Topic.— The  Lovers. 

Hints: — How  do  Romeo  and  Juliet  offset  and  supple- 
ment each  other  in  nature?  What  ties  of  similarity  are 
added  to  their  differences?  Do  you  like  one  better  than 
the  other?  If  so,  why?  How  do  the  lovers  develop  each 
the  other's  higher  nature?  Is  it  good  or  bad  to  take  a 
passion  so  intensely,  and  to  make  a  fate  of  love?  Was  it 
good  for  them?  Is  this  Tragedy  more  satisfying  to  the 
spirit  than  a  happy  ending  could  have  been? 

\ 
THE  WORKMANSHIP 

Topic. — The  Lyric  and  the  Dramatic  Elements. 

Hints: — Is  Character  portrayal  the  strongest  element 
in  this  Drama  or  is  Plot  more  noticeable,  powerful,  and  ab- 
sorbing ?  Compare  with  other  plays  of  the  earlier  or  cur- 
rent periods  of  Shakespeare's  authorship  in  these  respects, 
and  state  your  conclusions,  or  take  a  single  play,  where 
Love  is  also  the  main  interest,  such  as  "Love's  Labour's 
Lost"  or  "A  Midsommer  Nights  Dreame,"  and  make 
any  comparisons  the  matter  seems  to  you  to  yield.  Com- 
pare with  either  of  these  as  to  lyric  elements,  and  con- 
trast with  a  much  later  Play  e.  g.  "The  Tempest."  Bring 
out  the  rhyme-scheme  and  strict  metrical  form  of  such 
passage  as  the  Lovers  meeting  (I.  v.  102-123),  noticing 
that  the  dialogue  composes  into  a  little  Sonnet  on  a  Kiss. 
The  love  scene  of  Act  III,  similarly  begins  with  a  pro- 


150          SHAKESPEARE'S  TRAGEDIES 

logue  by  Juliet  (III.  ii.  2-32)  called  by  early  Italian 
poets  a  "Serena"  or  Evening  Song.  It  is  rounded  out 
with  an  "Alba,"  or  Morning  Song  (III.  v.  18-37)-  Con- 
trast with  the  singing  and  symmetrical  quality  of  such 
passages  the  lively  flavor  of  acenality  breaking  in  with  the 
entrance  of  the  Nurse  and  her  stealthy  warning  11.  39-42, 
and  later  still  the  change  of  tone  on  the  part  of  the  lyric 
lovers  themselves  (5066).  There  are  other  such  con- 
trasts of  lyric  and  colloquially  dramatic  dialogue  in  this 
Play.  Observe  them,  and  notice  what  the  nature  of  their 
effect  is.  Do  they  make  "Romeo  and  Juliet"  seem  a  little 
artificial  in  comparison  with  such  vivid  actualities  as  that 
of  the  Nurse's  speech  and  the  character  it  sets  before  you  ? 
(I.  iii.  16-55)  Have  they  in  this  particular  piece  a  pecu- 
liar fitness  and  piquancy  that  is  part  of  its  Charm?  Do 
they  betray  Shakespeare's  own  youthfulness,  or  his  wise 
age,  in  an  artistic  sense,  that  he  has  so  blended  his  poetic 
and  dramatic  gifts? 


14  DAY  USE 

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